New Year's Day football played host to Western Sydney Wanderers and the newest Sydney team in the A-League, Macarthur FC. While the Sydney derby between Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers is the more famous and more heated derby, this one and perhaps Macarthur's derby with Sydney FC would be the lesser known, nor popular intra-Sydney derby matches. However, Macarthur are a new side and will take time for them to find their feet and for the rivalries to build between the oldest team Sydney FC and the other big side, their closest rival, Western Sydney. I think that despite the circumstances that have surrounded the introduction of Macarthur and Western United, it is too late to undo their creation and we, as football supporters, should support their participation in the league. Hopefully that through sound leadership, things do improve and settle down where they build their own stadiums and build sufficient supporter bases and that these teams can grow and become part of the A-League fabric, much like the original seven teams in the league.
Right, enough of my own opinions about the expansion teams and the league permeating into these entries. We are here to talk about the match I have gone to and talk about the food and drink, after all that is the name of my game here. Now, due to a change in train as I was leaving Redfern, I did not notice that from the same platform, the train switched from T1 to T9 and I realised that I was not heading to Parramatta by the time the train left Strathfield. Made the switch at North Strathfield and headed back to Strathfield to get back onto the right train to head towards Parramatta. This error and my mistake in not being vigilant cost me being late to arrive at the Commbank Stadium 15 minutes late. That delay had caused me to just miss the first two goals as I walked into the stadium. What a shame but that is the sad nature of Sydney trains and how it does take a bit of time to get going around this city.
I found the right block I bought the tickets; however, my seat would have been in the sunlight for the whole match. So, I opted to head further back up the grandstand and to a higher elevated seat position. The view is not too bad and is very similar to seating in the eastern grandstand at Perth Oval. While a bit high, both venues aren't too bad to watch football. However, this stadium is by far a better viewing and matchday experience. Not really hard to do as the New South Wales government is more committed to better sporting and general infrastructure than Western Australia; again, my opinion perhaps with bias.
The Wanderers were simply too good and were all over their newer western city rivals. Macarthur just had no answers and just could not find any way in past the home side's defences. The visitors, just could not string a threatening challenge when they tried to venture forward after all hands would be on deck to keep the Wanderers out. At half time Western Sydney were 2 nil up and were not looking like they would be challenged.
The second half was very much like the first. The Bulls, their nickname, just could not find any rhythm and were not able to mount a series threat to Western Sydney. Their attacks after keeping the hosts at bay were rather ineffective and tame. The visitors just lacked any form of bite and they were just not able to come up with any answers to combat the waves of Western Sydney attacks. They were fortunate enough that the Wanderers were not as deadly up front as they would have been 4 goals up by half time.
By the 73rd minute Western Sydney scored from a very lax Macarthur series of defending coughed up a very unnecessary goal to put themselves 3 goals down. This was further compounded when a rather soft penalty was conceded late in the game to send the home side 4 goals up. It looked like West Sydney had managed to find an easy way through Macarthur's defences, but they managed to remain steadfast and keep them to a 4-nil win.
The food on offer was a lot and I did not have time to go through many. I did have a stadium hotdog and I had a meatbox, which with all memes aside with Sydney's west, something that I had to try. The hotdog bread was fresh, soft and nice with the meat being hot and tasting fine for a hotdog. Was not unpleasant, but was very nice to have while watching the game. The meatbox though was really good. On a bed of chips, it was layered with melted cheese and with sour cream and chives, chilli sauce and tomato sauce, it really hit the spot. The chips could have done with some salt to give it some flavour after the delicious lamb and sauce with cheese ladened chips were consumed, leaving bare soggy flavourless chips. That is one aspect that I am not a fan of when it comes down to a meatbox. Perhaps an unpopular opinion but I need to be able to have some form of flavour from start to finish. The meatbox was 16.50 and it could have done with more lamb, but that is how I like my meatboxes. The hotdog was 6 dollars and the coke was also 6 dollars. Went down well while watching the game.
The first viewing experience of football for myself in western Sydney, or any form of watching A-League football in Sydney for that matter was a low-key, but enjoyable affair. It was nice to always watch derbies, and no matter whether they are new or with some history behind them, they are always interesting to watch and be part of that history and the journey of two teams. I have watched plenty of international football in Sydney and it was just a nice change to see some top-tier football in the biggest city in the country. Hopefully I will be able to watch Perth Glory play in any of these stadiums in Sydney one day. However, I do not think that the result would be in my favour as Perth are not a very good side.
Well, I hope that everyone had a good 2022, a wonderful first day of 2023 and may this upcoming year be filled with joy and fulfilled goals. Thank you again for taking the time to read my blog, now in my 10th year and 150 entries later.
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