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PLAYER’S PERSPECTIVE:
ALEX RUFER #NIX VICE-CAPTAIN
Wellington Phoenix ViceCaptain, Alex Rufer, talks about the Nix squad heading into their match against Melbourne City. On how the players reacted after the last match “It was a tough week – 3 matches in a week – and the boys were a little bit fatigued but that’s to be expected; and now we’ve got a bit of a turnaround [eight days] so we can freshen up. “It was unfortunate for us to end the week on a loss you know, a draw against Macarthur after a great result against Victory; we came into that game only wanting the three points so to lose it the way we did was pretty gutting. “But with the team we have and the character we have, I have no doubt we can turn it around.”
On losing Steven Taylor to injury “It’s never good to lose someone early on in a match, especially someone like Stevie who has so much leadership and experience back there – but Josh Laws came in and did a very good job. “Hopefully it’s nothing too serious with Stevie and we can have him back soon.”
“I think we’ve got a really good squad and hopefully with this longer turnaround now, we’ll come in fresh and really prepare well for a really good game.” On this year’s squad “We’re a team that likes to have the ball, and we’re a team that’s very disciplined when we don’t have it, and we’re very calm and disciplined.
“I think we’ve got a really good squad and hopefully with this longer turnaround now, we’ll come in fresh and really prepare well for a really good game. “I believe in the players we have; our defence has been brilliant lately, Ulises [Davila] has been class, David Ball has been very good as well and Tomer [Hemed] has come in with some goals too. “So I have every belief in the boys that we’ll get it done against City.” On what to expect against Melbourne City “They [Melbourne City] deserve to be where they are, they’re a very good squad, a good strong team and they’ve got quality players – and you want to test these teams as much as you can, and I think we’re going to give them a good test on Monday night. “City are very structured, a very well-drilled team. They seem to always make the right decisions all over the park, they play a very nice possession-based football,
but they’re also aggressive; so it’s important we match them aggression-wise and win our battles.
“We’re a team that nothing to fear, we’ll take any team on, so I think that’s why it’ll be such a good challenge.” “We’re a team that nothing to fear, we’ll take any team on, so I think that’s why it’ll be such a good challenge. And these are the teams you want to go up against, so we’re looking forward to it.” On pressure to finish in the Top 6 “There’s always pressure; we’re not where we want to be but at the end of the season we will be. “So of course there’s always a little bit of pressure – but we put that pressure on ourselves because we want to be better. “And we have to fight, we’re got a strong squad with good leaders and this is where you need every player to stand up and be ready.”
PHOTOGRAPHY: Cameron MacIntosh (Photomac), Getty Images PRINTING: University of Wollongong COPYRIGHT: Reproduction in whole or in part by any means is prohibited. DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher. Although all material is checked for accuracy, no liability is assumed by the publisher for any loss due to material in this magazine. All details are correct as at time of print.
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# 14
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ALEX RUFER
MID
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DEF
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RENO PISCOPO
ULISES DAVILA (C)
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MID
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#3
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JAMES MCGARRY
#9
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FWD
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YOUR 2020/21 WELLINGTON PHOENIX SQUAD # 17
FWD
# 18
TOMER HEMED
# 21
FWD
# 19
BEN WAINE
DEF
# 23
JOSHUA LAWS
DEF
# 20
SAM SUTTON
MID
# 27
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GK
OLIVER SAIL
DEF
STEVEN TAYLOR
COACH UFUK TALAY
1
TOM GLOVER
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15 ANDREW NABBOUT
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2
SCOTT GALLOWAY
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16 TARAS GOMULKA
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3
SCOTT JAMIESON (C)
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17 STEFAN COLAKOVSKI
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4
NUNO REIS
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18 CONNOR METCALFE
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7
ROSTYN GRIFFITHS
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19 BEN GARUCCIO
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8
AIDEN O’NEILL
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20 ADRIAN LUNA
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9
JAMIE MACLAREN
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22 CURTIS GOOD
DEF
23 MARCO TILIO
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33 MATTHEW SUTTON
GK
13 NATHANIEL ATKINSON
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36 KERRIN STOKES
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14 NAOKI TSUBAKI
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10 FLORIN BERENGUER-BOHRER MID 11
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MW15 MATCH PREVIEW: WELLINGTON PHOENIX VS. MELBOURNE CITY The Wellington Phoenix face Melbourne City FC at WIN Stadium tonight, in their first match-up this season. In fact it’s been 14 months since these two teams last met, with Wellington walking away victorious with a thrilling 1-0 win at Eden Park last February. Wellington will be playing their third straight match at WIN Stadium, a venue at which they’ve had mixed results this season; having picked up their two most emphatic wins of the season there versus Melbourne Victory (4-1) and
Perth Glory (3-0) before falling to second-placed Macarthur Bulls 0-1 in the last round. Although Wellington has welcomed the eight-day gap between this match and their last one, which itself came on the tailend of a gruelling stretch of three matches in seven days, the Nix carry several injury concerns into this match. The early loss of Steven Taylor – due to a quad injury suffered in the 10th minute - hurt the Phoenix against Macarthur FC, and Taylor will remain out of the
line-up for the next fortnight as a result. With Liam McGing and Luke DeVere also out with injury, this leaves Wellington short on experienced players at the centre back position; no doubt giving Joshua Laws and Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi an opportunity to showcase their talents.
“It’s been a good week, the boys have prepared well this week – we gave them a couple of days off after our last game, so they’re come back in mentally and physically fresh & ready to go for the big challenge.” The expected loss of Reno Piscopo tonight (injury) robs the Phoenix of one of their most creative attackers, with Wellington Phoenix Coach Ufuk Talay to decide whether to move Clayton
Lewis into Piscopo’s spot – as he did against Macarthur – or go with another combination. Coach Talay says that despite the injury, the players are coming into this match well-rested and looking forward to the challenge of facing Melbourne. “It’s been a good week, the boys have prepared week this week – we gave them a couple of days off after our last game, so they’re come back in mentally and physically fresh and ready to go for the big challenge,” said Talay. “The hardest thing for us this season is not having the consistency in that backline, it’s hurt us a lot with players coming in and out – and when we did have the same backline for two to three
weeks in a row, we got some good results. Melbourne City comes into this match off the back of a disheartening loss to Western United at home on Thursday, in which the visitors came from behind to get a 2-1 win – ending Melbourne’s impressive six match winning streak in the process. Despite the loss, that winning streak has turned things around for Melbourne City after a slow start to the season. Led by the dynamic duo of Jamie Maclaren (12 goals, assists this season) and Craig Noone – first in the competition in both chances created (40) and crosses (117) – Melbourne scored 20 goals across these six matches and kept four clean sheets in a row to climb into fourth place on the ladder. A few concerns exist for Melbourne coming into this match too, first and foremost the absence of captain Scott Jamieson due to injury; Jamieson’s presence was sorely missed in the team’s loss to Western United. Fatigue will also be a factor for Melbourne, with the team playing on Thursday and only making one substitution during that match – in contrast to a relatively rested Wellington side.
And discipline remains a concern for Melbourne too; they are the only team to pick up three red cards this season, losing two of those matches in the process.
“So for us, it’s a great opportunity for our players, and a great challenge to step up and showcase themselves and show what they can actually do.” Coach Talay says that despite their loss to Western United, Melbourne City are the in-form team in the competition at the moment. “They’re a really fluid team, they play some good attacking football and they have some really good players who can hurt us. “So for us, it’s a great opportunity for our players, and a great challenge to step up and showcase themselves and show what they can actually do – because I still believe we’re a great football team, we’ve played some really good football this season at time. “Obviously a win tonight is important for us, we need to go on a run of winning three or four games to get ourselves back in the hunt again; so it’ll be a great game and we know how important this game is for us.”
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