St George Budapest, 7:30pm Wednesday 31st July 2019 (Away) - FFA Cup

For many, the draw that gave us St George in the FFA Cup was a disappointment. As road trips or far off destinations were dreamt of, we drew a team based in Sydney. In my opinion it was a good draw. Being played in Rockdale meant that it was an easy trip on a Wednesday night and a team from a lower division as well. The news that we could not play at King Tom in this year’s comp as the pitch failed an inspection had kind of put me off watching it. It just seemed like another punch below the belt from the FFA and I was just bored of it. I could not be kept away though as cup fever gripped me the week before the game. A prized place in the last 16 was up for grabs and the possibility of a big game if we could beat St George was too much to pass up. I jumped the train to Kogarah and made my way to Ilinden Sports Centre. Halfway there I was offered a lift to the ground by none other than Petar Markovic & Tomislav Uskok who had spotted me walking up - thanks for the ride!

The cage, just like the old days!

Ilinden sports centre, home to Rockdale City Suns, was redeveloped a few years ago and has a covered stand with two kiosks. The rest of the ground is open hill with a scoreboard on the far side. The Cevapi were good and the Macedonian beer, Zlaten Dab, was not bad at all. The SUS and the rest of the Sydney Croatia faithful were to the right of the stand by the far kiosk, which is in an old shipping container. There was a large following for Croatia, and Budapest even had a group with a drum making some noise to the left. It had all the makings of being a classic cup tie as the game kicked off. Although Croatia had been struggling in front of goal as of late, last weekends 3-0 win had put that run behind them and I was hoping that the goals would come again. The game started a little cagey from both teams as Budapest put in some crunching tackles which the referee did not get hold of for the rest of the game. Croatia took the lead just before the 20 minute mark when Patrick Antelmi put in after a cross was spilled by the goalkeeper. Budapest were pumping a lot of long balls forward and almost caught Croatia a couple of times before Antelmi (I think?!) raced clear to go one on one with the goalkeeper but could only put the ball past the post. As we lamented that a second goal would have killed the game some latecomers arrived to add to the atmosphere, which was electric by this point. Budapest won a free kick on the edge of the Croatia and the shot was superbly tipped onto the bar and over by Manos. The rain started to fall and the half time whistle went with Croatia 1-0 up and one foot in the next round.

The teams line up

As the second half started my mate Vrljic commented that a second goal was needed early on to calm nerves. That goal came from Josh McDonald on 50 minutes, a close range finish to add to the goal he got at Hakoah on Sunday. Croatia then seemed to switch off, allowing Budapest back into the contest and they began a period of possession and lofted balls into the box that were looking increasingly dangerous. The referee at this point seemed intent on giving free kicks in dangerous positions for very little or nothing and it was from one of these after 64 minutes that Budapest pulled one back. Let me be clear, it was never a free kick but it was expertly placed into the mixer and touched in. The nerves were now getting very frayed as the Budapest fans chanted “who are you?”– a bit rich to be fair. In any case it was game on and Croatia were struggling. Long balls forward continued in the rain and it was no surprise when Marcus Beattie beat the offside trap and finished past Manos with 10 minutes to play. It was a fine finish and Croatia were in trouble. They managed to get themselves back up and push forward for the winner with a few efforts on goal but looked lost. Budapest started to waste time in the midst of this as Croatia won a corner in stoppage time. It was difficult to see how it went in from where I was standing but the net bulge was enough and pandemonium ensued! It was Yianni Pertakis who put it in and as the players walked back to the centre circle everyone was breathing a sigh of relief. It did not last. I am unsure how much stoppage time there should have been in a game with few injuries or stoppages, as I don’t recall seeing a board go up, but it seemed a long time. As we were yelling for full time, an innocuous shot that was ballooned up was spilt by Manos and prodded in by Kokubu, the Japanese import that had scored the first. It was timed at 97 minutes, far too long as by the time the referee blew the whistle it must have been close to 9 minutes of stoppage time. I’ve been watching football for 30 years and have never seen anything like it. The whistle blew on full time, 3-3.

The huge Croatia following

It was a disaster and I was worried that Croatia were done for. It is a credit to the players and staff that they managed to pick themselves up again to put in a shift in extra time. The first period passed without much incident and I was dreading a penalty shoot out. The star of the show had to be 16 year old Michael Rhus, brought on as a sub and set up Maia for a fantastic goal at the start of the second period that sent the Croatia supporters into delirium and me jumping all over Sumo. Just 3 minutes later he was sent clear down the right and powered into the box to lash a fantastic finish past the keeper to end the game at 5-3. Budapest had nothing left and a sixth should have been added but it would have been harsh on them. The celebrations at full time continued in front of the cameras as Glen Trifiro was interviewed right in front of the Croatia following. Jerry then roused the SUS into more songs. God what a night. It’s games like this that you live for, but for god’s sake Croatia, why do you always have to do it the hard way!? We are in the draw for the last 16 next week! Please get down to Belmore for another massive game against Olympic on Sunday and support the boys. Oh and thanks for the lift home Vrljic ! Sydney Croatia Ole Ole Ole…..