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Sydney FC and Shanghai Shenhua played out a 1-1 draw at the Sydney Football Stadium in a game the Sky Blues should have won. Duvier Riascos opened the scoring in the 6th minute when his shot deflected off Sebastian Ryall and past Liam Reddy. But the Sky Blues quickly equalised six minutes later through the boot of Nicky Carle.
The home side lined up in a 4-2-3-1 and it was perhaps Vitezslav Lavicka's most attacking team this season. David Williams and Mark Bridge almost played as strikers and Hiro Moriyasu played high up the pitch when Sydney had possession.
The visitors lined up in a 4-3-3 with a deadly front line and Feng Renliang on the left wing terrorised Ryall all match.
Bruno Cazarine holding up ball for deep runners
The first half was possibly one of Sydney's best of the season. One-touch passing and layoff's allowed the Sky Blues to run rings around the Shanghai defence. Shenhua failed to mark the constantly moving Sydney attackers despite their deep line and numbers behind the ball.
With Stuart Musialik controlling the midfield with authority it allowed Hiro Moriyasu to also get forward and offer another option. Scott Jamieson's gut-busting runs down the left allowed width outside of Bridge.
One of the main reasons Sydney were able to dominate so efficiently was Cazarine's ability to hold up the ball and lay it off to Mark Bridge, David Williams and Carle. The big striker up front offered options for the Sydney attackers making deep runs from center and wide.
The Brazilian was the lone-striker and was instrumental in allowing the Sky Blue attackers to get into the game. This was particularly important for allowing Bridge and Williams to play inverted and outnumber the Shanghai defenders. The one-touch passing among the four front men was near impossible to track.
Musialik stands up as skipper
With Terry McFlynn suspended after receiving a straight red in Sydney's 0-0 draw against Suwon, Stuart Musialik was named captain. Playing in a deep role, much like Erik Paartalu and Rostyn Griffiths for Brisbane Roar and Central Coast, Musialik controlled the play and created space for not only himself but his teammates.
He was instrumental throughout the match and was important in the first goal as he played a 25 yard pass straight to Cazarine. Minutes later and he was offering options from deep once more with a chip over the defence to release Moriyasu.
The stand-in captain was almost a center-half as he sat back just in front of Stephan Keller and Matthew Jurman. This allowed Scott Jamieson to get forward out wide - which in turn let Bridge play more centrally - and allowed Moriyasu to attack high up the pitch.
Shanghai counter attacking
The visitors only had 40% of the ball in the first half and looked happy to counter. Salmeron and Riascos's strength and speed was vital as they at times had Sydney on the back foot. The Shenhua transition from defence to attack was twice as quick as Sydney's.
Shanghai had a few opportunity's to make Sydney pay for missed chances and Renliang had two in as many minutes as he struck the post and then had a one on one smartly saved.
Second half
The score was level at 1-1 at the break despite Sydney's dominance. It offered Shanghai a lifeline but they didn't take it. Neither though did the Sky Blues as the second half reached it's summit with a prime Bruno Cazarine chance hit wide.
Apart from that, the second half was dull and indolent from Sydney as they failed to re-create the expressiveness they showed in the first term.
Despite Musialik's insistence that Sydney wouldn't face any fitness issues in the final 20 minutes, they looked flat and out of ideas. Sydney played with a high line and played from the back but the movement up front wasn't as emphatic.