Adelaide, Australia — Wellington Phoenix head coach Giancarlo Italiano dey prepare as dem go face Adelaide United for Coopers Stadium on Good Friday for Round 27 of the Isuzu UTE A-League. Even with their poor record for di city, Italiano dey optimistic about di match.
Di Phoenix don only win four out of 26 matches wey dem don play for South Australia, and di last victory na December 2019, during di early days of Italiano tenure. Di team land for Adelaide on Wednesday and train for di city on Thursday.
“I love coming here and playing at di stadium,” Italiano talk during media Zoom meeting. “I get a buzz. I think it’s probably di best football stadium set-up. When it’s full di place dey buzzing. Great pitch as well.”
He noted say di long journey from Wellington get impact on di players’ performance, and e believe di crowd also sabi how to make opportunities hard for dem. “Obviously it’s Good Friday, so there’s going to be a large crowd,” Italiano mention. “Dem get buzz from di crowd and dem dey quite vocal.”
Furthermore, di travel dey affect how dem fit perform, as dem recently use two flights to come down. “It takes a bit of time to recover. Sometimes it’s hard to get into di game,” e add, explain how dem fit struggle to acclimatise.
Di Wellington team enter dis match after dem lose to Melbourne Victory 3-2, but dem dey in better form compared to Adelaide United, wey no fit win any of dem last eight matches, with dem four di last games wey dem don lose, including a heavy 4-1 beating from Perth Glory.
“I know say dem don get inconsistent results lately, but dem still go hard to play against,” Italiano warn. “Dem get plenty good attacking options. Dem be dangerous team and dem dey good for transitional play.”
Di Phoenix still get three matches remaining for di season, and dem wan finish outside di bottom four, wey go contest di Australia Cup playoffs for Darwin next month. “Our goal still na to win di last three games. We think say e dey achievable, and we want to put on a good football show,” Italiano stressed.
However, dem go need to adjust after Paulo Retre, one of their key players, no fit make di trip after e strain im hamstring just before scoring last week. Lachlan Candy go take im position for dis match as dem look for strong turnaround.
Di match between Wellington Phoenix and Adelaide United dey set to kick-off at 9:35 PM AEST on Friday, and dem go show am free-to-air for New Zealand on Sky Open, as well as live on Sky Sport 3 in New Zealand and Paramount+ for Australia.
Di last meeting between di two teams happen on 14 February 2025, where Melbourne Victory beat Wellington Phoenix 1-0. History show: Phoenix don win 12, Adelaide don win 23, and dem don draw 15 times.
