Just two days after their thrilling penalty shootout win over Perth Glory to claim the A-League Championship, Sydney FC have fallen short against Asian heavyweights, Kawasaki Frontale.
Fielding mostly youth team players, coach Steve Corrica named five debutants for the dead rubber, in what was the final appearance at Kogarah for the Sky Blues in their 2018/19 campaign.
Among the fringe players who started against Kawasaki were Sutherland Shire footballers Cameron Devlin and Jacob Tratt.
Needing a win going into the game, Kawasaki netted four goals with relative ease, proving a class above their inexperienced opposition.
Kawasaki's effort turned out to be in vain however with Shanghai clinching 2nd place in Group H following their win over Ulsan, to qualify for the next round of the Asian Champions League.
Despite the loss, Corrica saw the positives in giving his youngsters game time against a high quality opposition.
"We expected it to be difficult here tonight, we had limited preparation after only arriving back in Sydney last night," Corica said.
"It was a good experience for the younger boys and I hope they take something out of that game against a really good side."
Sydney FC took the opportunity on Tuesday night to parade the A-League Champions trophy around at Netstrata Jubilee for the die-hard Sky Blues fans among the 3813 crowd which turned up.
Among those hoisting the trophy was newly retired club legend Alex Brosque who farewelled the Kogarah crowd one final time.
Sydney FC will return to Kogarah for next year's A-League campaign in what has proven to be a successful switch of venue while the new stadium at Moore Park is being built.
