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MESSAGE OF WELCOME FROM GENERAL MANAGER, DAVID DOME
Welcome all to another exciting match at WIN Stadium, this time against our fierce rivals Western United FC. We love playing against this club, and recorded two huge wins against them last season; a 3-1 away victory and 2-0 home win which was one of our most exciting matches of the season. They have two high-performing veterans in their squad in Diamanti and Berisha, as well as talented youngsters like Dylan Pierias and Lachlan Wales - so it’s never an easy match against them but it’s always one we look forward to. Tonight’s match is bought to you by Wollongong City Council, who have been a fantastic supporter of the club from the moment we arrived in Wollongong. This relationship with the council
also allows us increased access to the community too; with their help we recently ran a very successful Youth Centre workshop in Wollongong, and next week we’re running a series of football clinics across the region to benefit the local youth.
“Wollongong City Council have been a fantastic supporter of the club from the moment we arrived in Wollongong.” Tonight will also see the Phoenix continuing to wear the red ‘Wollongong Strip’ at home, thanks to the generosity of Multi Civil and Rail (MCR) who we recently announced as our new Principal Partner – and continuing as our Front of Shirt Partner - for the rest of the season. MCR is a vital relationship for the Club while we base ourselves
out of Wollongong - the Phoenix is a family club and one that is very much built on meaningful relationships in the community, so MCR have been extremely welcoming and have really helped us find our feet in Wollongong.
“MCR are a huge part of the community here in Wollongong, so to have them as our principal partner is a privilege.” And MCR are a huge part of the community here in Wollongong, so to have them as our principal partner is a privilege and helps us enormously in our work with local businesses, community group and regional bodies.
the first time to take on Western United (again) at UTAS Stadium. We then return to Wollongong to face Adelaide United in a very special ANZAC Day match at WIN Stadium, where we will honour those who lost their lives at Gallipoli. ANZAC Day has always been important to this club and we’re honoured to be able to play on this day for our fans of both sides of the Tasman. And with the trans-Tasman bubble opening later this month, there remains the possibility of us playing matches back in New Zealand before the end of the season.
Our focus is now on rewarding their backing of the club by making a strong run to the A-League Finals in June, which is our primary goal.
This remains a goal for us; it’s important for the fans, our partners and of course players and staff members - some of whom will have been separated from their families for six months.
Following our match tonight, the squad will be heading out of the Wollongong region for a few weeks - flying to Western Australia for a match versus Perth Glory, before travelling to Tasmania for
We’re working on a plan around this now, and it’s important to note there are a lot of risks involved for us and the A-League in doing so, but we’ll let you know when we know more. COYN!
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PLAYER’S PERSPECTIVE:
OLI SAIL
#NIX GOALKEEPER Wellington Phoenix Goalkeeper, Oli Sail, talks about the season heading into tonight’s match against Western United. On the match vs Melbourne City Very disappointing for us, unfortunately we let ourselves down on a couple of key moments. There’s lots of positives to take away from that match, particularly our performance in the second half with the ball, but a few moments defensively that just killed us – and made it difficult to stay on top of the game. They’re a quality team so they punished us for our mistakes. But we went toe-to-toe with what I think is the strongest team in the A-League this season, and very easily could’ve had points from that game.
Oh his continued improvement I still think I’m going to get better, I’m happy with the way I’m going – at the end of the day it’s about accumulating points for the club and climbing the ladder. Consistent game time is something I haven’t quite had over the past few years – so I’m relishing that and enjoying it and hopefully my performance can continue to grow.
“I still think I’m going to get better, I’m happy with the way I’m going – at the end of the day it’s about accumulating points for the club and climbing the ladder.” It’s nice to make some saves in a game, but at the end of the day I’d also happily not touch the ball and keep a clean sheet and win 1-0!
On the Mexican supporters We’re really grateful for our Mexican fans this season; being away from our Nix fans in Wellington has been hard and the atmosphere they create is brilliant. So it’s great to have Ulise’s “Support gang” at our games, they’ve gotten right on board – they’re adopted us and turned out almost every week to see us play. Even at away games too; when we played Western Sydney, they were there along with the Israeli supporters too. They’ve been brilliant, they’re noisy and they’re proper football fans as well – like our Nix fans back home! On facing Western United They’re quite a direct team, they like pushing numbers forward on the counter-attack, they break quickly, they’ve got quality with the
likes of Diamanti in their midfield, a potent scorer up front [Besart Berisha], one of the best to ever play in the A-League, and they’ve got pace out wide with the likes of [Lachlan] Wales and [Dylan] Pierias on the other side.
“Every game is must-win for us now, it’s an important game against a good side - the boys are up for that!” So they’re a pretty threatening side going forward, but we’re confident that we can get the job done – the way we play, I don’t think we fear anyone in the competition. Every game is must-win for us now, it’s exciting in a way – we’ve got a young group of players here who will go out and work as hard as anyone to come out on top. So it’s an important game against a good side. The boys are up for that!
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YOUR 2020/21 WELLINGTON PHOENIX SQUAD #1
GK
#2
STEFAN MARINOVIC
#5
DEF
DEF
LUKE DEVERE
#6
DEF
#7
FWD
# 10
MID
# 11
CHARLES LOKOLI-NGOY
# 14
MID
ALEX RUFER
MID
CAMERON DEVLIN
FWD
JAUSHUA SOTIRIO
# 15
DEF
#8
RENO PISCOPO
ULISES DAVILA (C)
FWD
#4
TE ATAWHAI HUDSON-WIHONGI
MID
TIM PAYNE
DAVID BALL
# 13
#3
LIAM MCGING
JAMES MCGARRY
#9
DEF
FWD
MIRZA MURATOVIC
# 12
MID
MATTHEW RIDENTON
# 16
DEF
LOUIS FENTON
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
CLAYTON LEWIS
GK
OLIVER SAIL
DEF
STEVEN TAYLOR
COACH UFUK TALAY
1
FILIP KURTO
GK
17 BRADDEN INMAN
2
AARON CALVER
DEF
19
3
BRENDAN HAMILL
DEF
20 VICTOR SANCHEZ
MID
4
ANDREW DURANTE
DEF
21 SEBASTIAN PASQUALI
MID
5
DYLAN PIERIAS
DEF
22 TOMISLAV USKOK
DEF
6
TOMOKI IMAI
DEF
23
7
BESART BERISHA
FWD
25 LUKE DUZEL
MID
8
LACHLAN WALES
FWD
26 NICOLAS MILANOVIC
FWD
9
KAINE SHEPPARD
FWD
27 JERRY SKOTADIS
MID
MID
29 AYOM MAJOK
MID
10 STEVEN LUSTICA
JOSHUA RISDON
MID DEF
ALESSANDRO DIAMANTI (C) MID
11
CONNOR PAIN
FWD
30 RYAN SCOTT
GK
13
IVAN VUJICA
DEF
34 IKER GUARROTXENA
FWD
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MW156 MATCH PREVIEW: WELLINGTON PHOENIX VS. WESTERN UNITED The Wellington Phoenix take on Western United FC at WIN Stadium tonight, in the first match-up between these two rivals this season. The competition has always been fierce against these two clubs, as evidenced last season when Mark Rudan’s squad took out their first ever match-up 1-0 - only to see the Phoenix retaliate with two emphatic victories against them later that season. That last encounter, a 2-0 win to the Nix, also saw the home side wear a purple and green kit for the
first time in support of the Mental Health Foundation. For this game, Wellington will again wear the red ‘Wollongong’ strip which has been popular with local fans this season. Although they expect to not have Reno Piscopo available due to injury, they will hope that Steven Taylor will be good to go - after both missed the Nix’s 3-2 loss against Melbourne City last week. In addition to missing Taylor in the backline, the Phoenix have also been without Liam McGing and Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi
due to injury, leaving the squad dangerously thin at the central defender position. Although this has placed an additional defensive load on the likes of Joshua Laws, Tim Payne and James McGarry, it’s been the inspired play of keeper Oli Sail which has buoyed the team in recent weeks. In the eight matches he has played this season, Oli Sail leads the competition in Goals Saved per Game (5.3) by a wide margin; Liam Reddy is second with four per game. Sail is also second in the A-League in Save Percentage (77%) with his stops a regular highlight on social channels. Wellington Phoenix captain, Ulises Davila, says that Sail’s play has been an obvious bright spot for the club this season.
“It’s very good to see how hard Oli has worked last season and this one, he’s kept his consistency [even when he hasn’t been playing], and I always tell him he has to stay prepared,” said Davila.
“It’s very good to see how hard Oli has worked; h eis obviously he’s one of the top keepers in the league.” “He stayed ready, he’s worked a lot and now he’s getting his chance and he’s doing great – some great saves every week and is obviously he’s one of the top keepers in the league.” Meanwhile, Western United come into this match as winners of their last two, including an impressive 2-1 win against Melbourne City last week and a 1-0 victory over Newcastle Jets on Monday;
24-year-old forward Lachlan Wales scoring in both matches. Although Wales and Dylan Pierias (5 goals) have both shown potential this season, it has been the steady play of the ‘dynamic duo’ of Besart Berisha (6 goals) and playmaker Alessandro Diamanti; the latter currently sitting first-equal in the competition in assists (7) and fourth in crosses (105).
“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.” With their age – Berisha is 35 while Diamanti is 37 – along with 38-year-old Andrew Durante combining to make them one of the oldest starting 11’s in the A-League, the club will need to rely on Wales and Pierias to keep up the pace over an entire season; especially if they want to improve on their seventh-place standing Davila says this match, and every match until season’s end, are ‘must-wins’ for the Phoenix as they eye a top six finish. “The team is playing good football and improving, and we have to keep believing in ourselves - we have another 11 games to go,
and we are trying to get as many points as possible and to get into the top six and the Finals.” Did you know? • Opposites in Action: these two teams rely on different methods of scoring goals; while Wellington Phoenix leads the competition with seven goals scored outside the box (four to Davila) versus one header scored (Louis Fenton), Western United has only scored one goal outside the box versus seven headers scored. • Defending the Headers: no team has conceded more header goals than the Wellington Phoenix (8) and Western United (7) this season • Big Chances: Although Wellington are last in Big Chances Created this season, they are fourth in the competition in converting those chances (57.1%) ahead of Western United in fourth place. • Making a Pass: The Phoenix are currently fourth in total passes (7379) and third in pass completion (83.9), compared to Western United who are last in total passes (5748) and eighth in pass completion (81.8%).
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