December 27, 2024
These diaries have regularly reported on games in Australia’s A-League, and today was the first opportunity to report on a game from the 2024/25 season, with both of today’s sides playing their 9th game of the season. Adelaide sat in 2nd place whilst WSW were in 7th.
Adelaide United
Adelaide United had previously been featured in these diaries in October 2023, when in the opening game of the season they comprehensively beat defending champions Central Coast Mariners 3-0. Despite this optimistic beginning, they ended up only finishing 8th in the A-League, with average home attendances of 10,035.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2023/10/adelaide-united-3-0-central-coast.html
Adelaide United finished third in the regular 2022/23 season, in which their average attendance was 10,359, but lost both matches in the semi-final to Central Coast Mariners to go out on a 1-4 aggregate score. Their only A-League title was in 2016.
Home is the 16,500 capacity Coopers stadium, and their manager is ex-Sheffield United, Crystal Palace, Millwall and Australia striker Carl Veart ( 18 caps ).
Adelaide United This Season
Adelaide possessed an unbeaten 5-3-0 record to sit second in the A-League table, one point behind Sydney FC. However, their home form was only 1-3-0 whilst they possessed an 100% record away record.
Last time out Adelaide played out a 3-3 home draw with Sydney FC, throwing away a 3-1 lead in the closing few minutes, but prior to that had won 4-0 at Central Coast Mariners and 1-0 at Newcastle Jets. Other away victories had been recorded at Brisbane Roar ( 3-2 ) and Western Sydney Wanderers ( 4-3 ).
Their sole home win had been against Western United ( 2-1 ) whilst Central Coast Mariners ( 1-1 ) and Perth Glory ( 2-2 ) had left South Australia undefeated.
Their average attendance this season so far was 10, 086
Adelaide United Squad
Of the team that feature against the Mariners in October 2023, keeper Joe Gauci ( 7 caps ) was now with Aston Villa whilst teenage sensation Nestory Irankunda ( 5 caps ) is now playing for Bayern Munich II after a reported fee of €3M and was in the crowd watching as Germany were now on their winter break.
Japanese forward Hiroshi Ibuski ( 3 caps ) has signed for fellow A-League side Western United, midfielder Ben Halloran ( 6 caps ) joined Brisbane Roar, and centre-back Nick Ansell moved to Thailand to play for Swat Cat. Australian Under 20 forward Musa Toure joined French Second Division side Clermont Foot, and 20-year-old winger Bernardo Olivera was snapped up by Macarthur. Centre-back Alexander Popovic is now on loan with Sydney FC after joining South Korean side Gwangju.
The Adelaide squad still included ex Portsmouth, Millwall, Fulham and Luton midfielder Ryan Tunnicliffe and ex-Bolton Wanderers, Nottingham Forest, Wigan and Carlisle striker Zach Clough. Ex-Espanyol Spanish midfielder Isaias, now counts as a naturalised Australian citizen.
Of their talented youth products 19-year-old wing-back Panashe Madanha was born in Zimbabwe and 19-year-old midfielder Jonny Yull was born in England. Defender Ryan Kitto remained Adelaide’s captain.
Adelaide’s newcomers included ex-Sparta Rotterdam centre-back Bart Vriends, who featured in these diaries in June 2023 in a promotion play-off match against Twente, ex-Ipswich, Stevenage and Melbourne Victory striker Ben Folami ( 1 cap ) and ex-Newcastle Jets forward Archie Goodwin.
Goodwin was the top scorer so far with 4 goals along with midfielder Stefan Mauk, who was also on 4 goals. Englishman Clough was next with 3 goals and 4 assists.
Western Sydney Wanderers
Western Sydney Wanderers were formed in 2012 and play in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta in the 30,000 capacity CommBank Stadium, which they share with NRL side Parramatta Eels. Wanderers had initially played at the Pirtek Stadium in Parramatta until it was demolished and rebuilt as the CommBank stadium. Between 2016 and 2019 Wanderers played at the Sydney Showground and Stadium Australia, both located on the Sydney Olympic Park.
A record breaking first season Premiership triumph led to WSW going on participate in three Grand Finals in four seasons, all of which were lost. However, they went on to win the 2014 AFC Champions League, beating Al-Hilal 1-0 on aggregate in the final.
Last season they finished 7th in the A-League, and their next best finish in recent years was 4th in 2022/23.
Western Sydney Wanderers This Season
At the start of the day Wanderers possessed a 3-2-3 record, and 1-1-1 away from home.
WSW were on an unbeaten run of three games and last time out they registered an emphatic 4-1 home win over Wellington Phoenix. Before that they had drawn 2-2 at home with Brisbane Roar and won 2-0 at Melbourne City. Wanderers other league victory had been a 4-1 thumping of Newcastle Jets.
Adelaide United had eliminated Wanderers in the Australia Cup before the start of the season, with a 2-1 victory after extra time, but Wanderers had not lost in Adelaide in the A-League in 8 matches over the last 7 years.
Western Sydney Wanderers Squad
The star name in the WSW squad was undoubtably ex-Valencia, Chelsea, Manchester United and Spanish midfielder Juan Mata ( 41 caps ), who had mostly been used as a substitute this season.
Other recognised names were ex-Melbourne Victory attacking midfielder Joshua Brillante ( 5 caps ), who appeared in these diaries in February 2022 in the Melbourne derby, whilst Bulgarian forward Bozhidar Kraev ( 24 caps ) previously played for Levski Sofia, Midtjylland and Wellington Phoenix.
Swedish striker Marcus Antonsson previously played for Leeds United, Blackburn Rovers, Malmo and Varnamo whilst forward Brandon Borello ( 11 caps ) had played for Dynamo Dresden, Freiburg and Kaiserslautern. Midfielder Dylan Scicluna was a Maltese under 21 international
The top scorer for Wanderers was ex-Western United winger Nicolas Milanovic, who had found the net five times to be the A-League’s joint top scorer, including a hat-trick in the victory over Newcastle Jets. Borello was next with four goals.
Matchday Information
The distance between Adelaide and Sydney is nearly 1,400 km and would take 15 hours by road. However, the flight is just over 2 hours.
The weather at the 19.05 local time kick-off ( 08.35 UK ) was sunny and 20 degrees.
Ticket prices for the game ranged from 32 AUD to 58 AUD for adults ( £16 to £29 ) and a holiday sell-out crowded was expected.
The match was shown live in the UK on TNT Sports but was also streamed on Bet365.com, who made Adelaide 4/6 favourites, with Wanderers at 3/1, and 15/4 for the draw
Adelaide were playing in all red whilst Wanderers were in a change from their red and black hooped shirts and instead were in a white kit with reddish/brown dotted stripes down the front of the shirt.
Wanderers made two changes from last week, with Antonsson and Oscar Priestman coming in for Kraev and Zac Sapsford, who both dropped down to be amongst the substitutes. Mata again had to settle for a place on the bench. Adelaide were unchanged.
Match Report
Wanderers made a strong start and with one minute played Jay Barnett brought down Milanovic to give WSW a free kick 25 yards out, but Borello could only drill into the defensive wall.
Adelaide’s first foray into the Wanderers area came in the 5th minute when Clough made a break and found Goodwin, whose clever backheel put Dylan Pierias in on goal, but his shot from tight angle was parried by keeper Lawrence Thomas.
Two minutes later some slack defending by WSW saw Mauk play a ball in from the left for Kitto to run onto past a sleeping defender and poke the ball across goal from close to byline, but Thomas dived to gather.
Ethan Alagich and Mauk then combined to play in Folami, but a poor heavy first touch allowed Gabriel Cleur to slide in and win the ball for Wanderers
At this stage WSW were dominating possession but it was Adelaide who were looking the more dangerous.
In the 12th minute Folami played a ball in from the left which Dean Pelekanos missed with his attempted clearing kick, but ball hit him and Pelekanos recovered to clear.
A minute later Kitto robbed Milanovic of possession just outside the WSW area but his left footed drive from just outside the area flew narrowly wide. It was the best chance of the match so far.
Shortly after at the other end, Kitto’s attempted clearance was blocked. Wanderers gained possession and a lay off found Antonsson, whose low shot from just outside area took a slight deflection, but Delianov dived to made one handed save.
Folami was seeing a lot of the ball for Adelaide, and he made a good run down left, but his low cross went too far ahead of Goodwin and off for a goal kick.
Clough then ran at the Wanderers defence and found Mauk inside the area with a good pass, but the ball stuck under Mauk’s foot, and three WSW defenders crowded him out.
In the 24th minute Clough curled a ball from right wing into the danger zone, but Folami sliding in couldn’t quite reach it.
The possession statistics showed Wanderers with WSW 63%, but Adelaide still looked the more likely side to score, and Clough, Mauk and Folami combined to deliver a ball in from left which was unconvincingly cleared. Clough then tried his luck from 25 yards, but his effort sailed harmlessly wide.
Adelaide continued to exploit the vast gaps on Wanderers’ right-hand flank with Milanovic not looking too interested in performing his defensive duties, and Folami was again found in space on Adelaide’s left, but again the ball in was played ahead of Goodwin.
A minute later Folami was again in space on left after a pass from Mauk, but this time he slipped the ball into the left hand channel for Alagich to run onto to and sweep the ball left footed into the roof of the net from the angle of the 6 yard box. 1-0 with 31 minutes on the clock.
Two minutes later Folami ran into area, passed to Mauk, who attempted a back-heel back to Folami but this was intercepted and Wanderers cleared. Adelaide regained possession and a delightful cross Clough found Goodwin unmarked 8 yards out to power a header past the keeper. It was Goodwin’s 5th goal of the season to join Milanovic at the top scoring chart and Adelaide now led 2-0 with 34 minutes played.
The visitors looked to hit back and a cross from Antonsson was cleared only as far as Milanovic but the shot from outside area blocked.
Adelaide again enjoyed freedom on their left as Kitto, Alagich and Mauk combined in similar move to first goal but this time Thomas was able to save.
After 38 minutes Clough released Pierias, who delivered an inviting cross from the right, but the diving Goodwin couldn’t make contact.
Wanderers’ response was for Scicluna to play a long ball for Milanovic to run onto, but the winger went to ground far too easily after a challenge with Kitto, and the referee allowed play to carry-on.
WSW fashioned a nice move two minutes later as Priestman did well to find Brillante, who had the vision to play in Clisby to run inside the Adelaide area, but his low left footed drive was pushed away by Delianov. When WSW reworked possession, Antonsson, from just inside the edge of area, could only shoot left-footed over the bar.
Alagich’s snipping run towards the WSW area was cynically stopped by Scicluna. Clough sent the free kick to the back post, where Panagiotis Kikianis headed back across the goal, but Mauk’s drive from 14 yards blocked. However, in any case, offside had been given against Kikianis.
On the stroke of half-time, Wanderers found a way back into the game. Milanovic was able to cross from the right wing and Antonsson escaped from his marker to head home from 6 yards so at the interval it was 2-1.
Almost immediately after the restart Cleur was shown the first yellow card of the game for pulling back Folami.
Pierias then weaved his way into the Wanderers’ area but went down after tackle from Alex Bonetig. The referee was unimpressed though and waved play on.
The visitors were increasingly looking dangerous and a back heel from Milanovic found Brillante in space and his ball across goal reached Jack Clisby, whose shot was blocked for corner. Clisby took the corner and Borello was left all alone at the back post to prod the ball over the line from close range. Adelaide had again lost a two-goal lead at home as it was now 2-2 after 49 minutes.
Adelaide looked shaken and Delianov had come more than 25 yards out of his area to clear. Clough was trying to drag Adelaide back into the game, first sending a right footed cross from left arrowing into top corner, but Thomas was able clawed away a corner. Then a Clough free kick from wide out on right went beyond the far post, but Kikianis could only head high into the air and WSW were able to clear and break. Milenovic beat two defenders and sent a 20-yard shot creeping into bottom corner, but Delianov dived to get a touch to the ball to turn it around post for a corner
It was all WSW now. Cleur’s cross was brought down by Antonsson, but the shot was blocked by Vriends. Cleur then cut inside from the right but his left footed shot from edge of area slid wide of the near post.
With 59 minutes on the clock a long ball down the left-hand channel was latched onto by Antonsson, but the Swede dragged his left-footed shot across goal and wide.
After 61 minutes Kraev and Zac Sapsford, on wearing a face mark, were introduced as WSW reverted to side that started last week against Wellington Phoenix, However, in a rare Adelaide attack, Peirias drilled a shot into the side netting from a tight angle.
After a brief period of Adelaide possession, Wanderers again got on top. Milenovic played a neat ball across face of the Adelaide penalty area, but Borello swung wildly, and his effort went 20 yards wide, wasting a good position.
Mata was brought on and given 15 minutes to show what he could do.
Two minutes later Cleur attempted to get to the byline but went over after challenge from Kitto. A goal-kick was awarded and Cleur had to go off with a leg injury.
With just over 10 minutes remaining the rugged Kitto received a yellow card for a foul on Milanovic, shortly after which Milanovic’s optimistic 35 yarder dribbled through to the Adelaide keeper.
Wanderers continued to search for the winner and a good ball into area reached Kraev, but Vriends produced a good block and got the goal-kick.
Folami was outmuscled by Scicluna midway inside the Wanderers half, and the young Maltese played a great ball to Kraev in oceans of space. Bulgarian headed for goal and sent a left footed shot from the edge of area, which was too strong for Delianov’s attempted parry, and the ball rippled into the back of the net. Adelaide had been caught out and their keeper should have done better, but it was now 2-3 after 82 minutes.
The visitors looked like they would add a fourth goal. Sapsford broke clear down the right and played the ball into towards Borello, but Vriends slid in to block shot. An interchange between Sapsford and Kraev played in Clisby to cut inside onto his right foot, but the shot was weak and straight at Delianov who easily saved.
Adelaide finally stirred themselves in attempted to stage a grandstand finish. Substitute Dukuly was played into the by-line but his cutback was cut out by Mata.
A dangerous cross from Clough was put out for a corner by Scicluna and Pelekanos was injured in the process. The corner was played short but the cross from Clough was too long. Although Mauk headed back across goal for Kitto to head into the net, the ball was clearly a couple of feet over the byline and the “goal” was rightly disallowed.
Seven added minutes were shown, and it was now Scicluna turn to go down injured. It was getting fractious as WSW attempted to wind down clock, and a red card was shown to WSW coach Alen Stajcic.
However, Adelaide never looked like scoring an equaliser as Wanderers comfortably held them at bay and Dukuly’s poor cross went straight to Thomas.
In the 10th minute of added time, Mata chipped forward to Kraev inside the area, but Delianov made the block. Adelaide were able to get to the other end of the pitch and won a corner, but this was wasted, going off for a goal kick at the near post.
At the final whistle Adelaide had lost their unbeaten record and missed out on chance to go top of the table. With the three points, Wanderers moved up to 6th in the A-League.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY87N8a1IMY
Adelaide United : Delianov – Pierias, Vriends, Kikianis, Kitto – Alagich, Barnett, Mauk- Clough, Goodwin ( Ayoubi ), Folami ( Dukuly )
Western Sydney Wanderers : Thomas – Cleur ( Hammond ), Pelekanos, Bonetig, Clisby - Milanovic, Brillante ( Mata ), Scicluna, Priestman ( Sapsford ) – Antonsson ( Kraev ), Borello
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