Qld Roar through to preliminary final!

Guess what?? Qld Roar just beat Sydney FC in the Hyundai A-League semi-final second leg on Friday nite at Suncorp Stadium, 2-0. That's right, they actually scored some goals! Given that the first leg in Sydney was goalless, it means Qld win the tie 2-0 on aggregate.

I & a few others watched the game on Foxtel at a friend's place. We decided not to go to the stadium mainly because of the high ticket prices (they hiked up the price for the A-League play-off matches). And just as well we didn't - it was raining rather heavily, & this caused the kick-off to be delayed by about 40 minutes. But once the match kicked off, the Roar looked the more determined side. Reinaldo scored after just 11 minutes to put the Roar a goal up, & they proceeded to control the rest of the half, especially after Sydney had a player sent off. The second half, though, was more subdued, much to the dismay of me & my friends. At one stage, a few of us were on the verge of dozing off. And it took a penalty 5-6 minutes from full time to put the Roar 2 goals up & seal Sydney's fate.

On the whole, despite the tame second half, it was a reasonably good match, & the result was well deserved. The pizzas & garlic bread that we had for dinner tasted better, given the way the match went.

Thanks to the win, Qld Roar are through to the preliminary final this Sunday. They will play Newcastle Jets, who sensationally lost their semi-final tie 2-3 against Central Coast Mariners. Sensational because Newcastle won their first leg at home 2-0 & seemed home & dry (few thought Mariners could overcome the deficit), but then lost 3-0 in the return leg in the Mariners' home ground after extra time. In football, it's never over until it's over.

The winner of the preliminary final will advance to the grand final where they will face the Mariners. Of course, it will be difficult against the Jets. But the Roar have nothing to fear, especially if they can reproduce the first half display against Sydney FC. In fact, one could argue that the Roar will enter the preliminary final in better spirits than the Jets, because the Roar came off a win in their semis while the Jets had to endure the heartbreak of losing their semi (and in extra-time, too, during which Mariners scored their decisive third goal).

Of course, I would like the Roar to win. But even if they don't, I won't be too disappointed (unless Roar plays very badly & lose by an embarassing margin...which I hope won't happen), because the Roar have exceeded my expectations already. All I want is for Qld Roar to give it their best & see what happens. Go the Roar!