It was an ugly, dogged struggle, but within that fight Sydney FC showed why they've become the A-League Women's greatest team.
Amidst all the flailing limbs and screaming faces, perhaps the player whose reaction captured the moment best was Princess Ibini.
Not through lack of trying, mind you: of the many opportunities she tried to create — the ones that, in seasons past, would come to her as easily and naturally as breathing — the ball simply didn't want to go where she wanted it to.It would spin off her foot the wrong way, clang into the shin of an opponent instead of skipping past them, roll just too far or too quickly away from her as she forlornly chased it down.
It was the same story during this season's grand final against Melbourne City on Saturday afternoon. Ibini started the game, as she has started every game for the Sky Blues this season, but the hour she spent on the pitch played out in much the same way as all her others. In the rare moments in which the ball appeared at Ibini's feet, more by accident than by design — as if the universe was trying to pay her back for a season's worth of bad luck — she was barely able to spot a teammate before City swarmed and stole it back again.
Charlotte Mclean and Jordan Thompson, the make-shift centre-back pairing who had been responsible for conceding the fewest goals all season, threw themselves at every pass and player who came near them. It wasn't graceful defending by any means, but it was necessary defending, flinging shins and hips and heads towards the rubber, crashing again and again up against the blue wave of City's attacking line.
Cortnee Vine, the league's star player, their World Cup hero, trying and failing to sneak past the watchful eyes of City's Julia Grosso, spending most of her time backtracking to help her teammates defend, forming another brick in their dark blue wall. It was fitting, in a way, that the deciding goal was scored by Ibini's replacement, Shea Connors: a player who hadn't scored a single goal all season, having missed several games through injuries of her own, who had the team's equal-highest "big chances missed" statistic , who hadn't even touched the ball by the time Dos Santos arrowed her pass into the grass ahead.
Soccer A-League Women Sydney FC Australia Melbourne City W-League Championship Resilience Women's Sport FIFA Women's World Cup Mackenzie Hawkesby Shay Hollman Ante Juric
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