Rhyan Grant suffered a double blow on the weekend with Sydney FC slipping further away from A-League finals contention with a 5-2 loss to Newcastle and the Olyroos going down to Uzbekistan 2-0.
Grant played the entire 90 minutes for the Sky Blues after missing out on a place in the Australian under 23s squad for their latest game. He played in the first matches against Iraq and Uzbekistan which, along with their earlier match against UAE, all finished as scoreless draws.
It means that Australia have only the slimmest chance of making it to the 2012 London Olympics with two away games left to play.
The news isn’t much better for Sydney FC as they dropped out of the top six with an embarrassing three goal loss against the Jets, who were two points behind them on the ladder coming into the game.
While they are still only one point out of the six, it would be their form that would have outgoing coach Vitezslav Lavicka most concerned.
Sydney announced on Friday Lavicka would depart at the end of the A-League season by “mutual consent” and his players vowed to do everything they could to make the 2009/10 championship winning coach’s last months memorable.
But if the announcement inspired the Sky Blues they certainly didn’t show it at the Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday, trailing 3-0 at half-time before having a second-half rally killed off by a rampant Jets.
“I have to say how we defended as a team, especially the first half, was embarrassing,” Lavicka said.
“Before the game we knew how important this game was for us and our opponents as well.
“It’s a big disappointment.”
The coach said after the match he was relieved that his future was now clear but admitted to expecting more of a response from the team.
“It is a relief for me because every interview before, one of the questions was asking about my future. Now it’s all clear,” Lavicka said.
“As I’ve said, I will do my best to reach as best we can together with the team.
“... But to be honest I expected a bit different response tonight.
“That’s football though, we don’t give up. We have seven games to go. It means 21 points to go and we still have belief and we work hard.”
The Jets flew out of the blocks with three first half goals to well and truly set up their win before the hosts scrambled their way back into the game with two after the break.
However Newcastle weren’t willing to let the game slip after such a dominant start and they found their winner in the 87th minute with another in injury time making it the first time Sydney FC have conceded five at home.
“It really hurts to be honest. To go in 3-0 down at home, embarrassing is the word we used at half-time,” captain Terry McFlynn said.
“You should never be 3-0 down at home. You talk about character and pride and playing for each other and playing for the shirt.”
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