Western Sydney Wanderers and Adelaide United face off at Pirtek Stadium for the opening match of Round 4. We’ll have live scores and commentary from 7.30pm AEDT.
These teams have only played each other three times, and in these three encounters the Wanderers have walked away victors twice while Adelaide took the spoils in the other contest.
Western Sydney
The Wanderers have remained unbeaten so far this season, with two draws and a win last weekend over crosstown rivals Sydney FC.
They will be boosted on Friday night by the return of Aaron Mooy, but the big blow for Western Sydney is the loss of Youssouf Hersi.
The Wanderers where far less successful last year without the classy winger, most notably in their loss in the Grand Final.
They will take confidence out of their derby win against Sydney last week, where they looked dangerous up front and solid in defence.
Jeronimo will be their main target, as the Argentinian has found the back of the net on multiple occasions this season and Western Sydney will do their best to stop him adding to his tally.
Adelaide
Adelaide on the other hand lost to Central Coast at Bluetongue Stadium last weekend after an early goal from Nick Fitzgerald.
Adelaide dominated possession against the Mariners, but were found to be fragile against a quick counter attack. They must make more chances from their dominance of possession, and will be hoping goal machine Jeronimo can light up the Western Sydney defence.
Adelaide will have to control Shinji Ono if they are to have a chance against a high confidence Wanderers team.
X-factor
The X-factor is no other than the silky Japanese midfielder Ono. He has looked dangerous going forward and always manages to play the right ball and he will surely be Adelaide’s main focus for this match.
Ono is getting fitter and stronger with every appearance and if he improves on his showing against Sydney, then the Reds are in strife.
Prediction
It would be very hard to go past Western Sydney. They looked solid in defence and lethal in attack last week, and expect them to sit deep and try to catch Adelaide on the counter.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Adelaide had 65 percent possession, but I doubt they will have many shots.
Western Sydney Wanderers 2-0 Adelaide United
AZ_RBB
Guest
the stupid tackles need to stop if we're going to call ourselves a good defensive team. the yellow cards will catch up with us very quickly.
ciudadmarron
Guest
like in a couple of weeks time vs Muscat's victory perhaps...
leon
Guest
Yeah. I was waiting for us to win the game before posting. :P
Androo
Guest
Yep, SBS2 metro figures were pretty awful and not all Basher's fault, I might add. Sydney is a big surprise: down 26k on the MV v BR match! WTF??!! Perhaps the novelty has worn off or there simply isn't much interest in Adelaide outside of Adelaide (who'd think such a thing!?). Without the best club in the comp., MVFC, figures are bound the slide! I am being facetious, of course. Round 1 Fri TV #ALeague update #SBS2 166k (Syd 81k Mel 44k Bri 13k Ade 16k Per 12k) Round 2 Fri TV #ALeague #SBS2 #ADLvMVC 175k (Syd 77k Mel 50k Bri 18k Ade 22k Per 8k) Round 3 Fri TV #ALeague #MVCvBRI @SBS2 158k (Syd 66k Mel 56k Bri 26k Ade 5k Per 5k) Round 4 Fri TV #ALeague #SBS2 #WSWvADL110k (Syd 40k Mel 36k Bri 18k Ade 12k Per 4k)
leon
Guest
Yes, would do wonders with another commentator. Surprised at the dreadful SBS ratings though.
Androo
Guest
BORING. DULL. TEDIOUS. MONOTONOUS. SBS2, it's time to 'let go' of David Basheer. Get a commentator who can inject a bit of life into a call and not kill the experience for the viewer. Other than that, the game was enjoyable, though not fantastic. The paying punters looked to have a good time.
Jukes
Guest
I agree with you, our boys play right on the edge and it might come back to haunt us at some point in the season.
Stevo
Guest
It took an hour after I posted for WSW to fire up and score and for you to post your comment :) Hindsight or something?
SVB
Guest
Also he says what side would not improve having the foreigners we have? Well they were pretty much nobodies before they came to WSW. Shinji was a Japanese legend, but was old and injury prone. They became better players at this club. I do think he has a point about us sailing close to the wind with fouls though. Mostly Polenz. But then you could say that Elrich for Adelaide should have been red carded in the first half last night. Should have been given a second yellow for a clear foul on Bridge ,which would have seen Bridge heading straight for goal had he not been fouled.
Jukes
Guest
Your foreign player argument wont work Jack. While we are entitled to one extra foreigner we didnt take it up. We have exactly the same number as everyone else. We are also following the same rules as everyone else on the field. Play to the whistle :D
yewonk
Guest
what have you got.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Really enjoyed that game. WSW like they have just about every game this season came out firing. It was really critical for them to score early on but didn't happen. Strongly believe that Elrich should've been sent off in the first half. After that initial WSW flurry Adelaide had us figured out. They were moving the ball around very effectively but much like against CCM their final ball was often very poor. Nevertheless they deserved to go up a goal. But from then onwards WSW looked like the only team likely to win. Juric was doing some magical stuff. Minniecon looked great aside from the odd error. Still a little concerned about the D'apuzzo/Bridge side of the pitch. I've lost count of how many WSW games I've been to at Parra Stadium now but by this stage you would think I would be used to the atmosphere. But with every game it goes up a notch. The final 30mins the noise was deafening. It was awesome having the whole stadium doing some of the chants at times. To think we can make that sort of noise with 16 000 fans, can't begin to imagine what it will be like once we get a bigger stadium. I could go on for pages about the game day experience. But i'll leave that for another week. Still disappointing that a couple thousand members can't be bothered turning up. But it's to be expected.
Jack Arnott
Guest
Lets be honest now that Wanderers honeymoon is over. They do well because they can have extra foreign players - they can thus spend squad spaces on solid journeymen and take a risk with them - what side would not improve having La Rocca, Ono, Hersi, and Polenz in their team. Also, they operate on the field in a terribly cynical manner. How many times do they pull down, hack down, or otherwise illegally contrive to stop players on the other team on the break? Some might say its clever, but at the global level, refs spot that stuff in a minute and punish you for it. Perversely, the naivety of the refs about this strategic fouling is that they hold off giving yellow cards to wanderers players when they are already on a yellow - Juric should've had four yellow tonight, and Polenz at least two. In contrast, their opponents are booked for the most minor infringement - almost like the refs think 'you are a good boy, I expect better' and hence, again the wanderers benefit. This cynical tactic should be stamped out, by post game review if nothing else.
Stevo
Guest
Indeed LOL :) ;)
jamesb
Guest
Stevo You and I have got the correct score and posted it at the same time (7:35pm) Great minds think alike!
Stevo
Guest
Next week HeartFC v WSW Friday night. How good will that be :)
leon
Guest
You're joking. Adelaide firing blanks the whole night. Aside from the goal, no goal scoring opportunities whatsoever.
leon
Guest
Cheer squad? Seriously?
jamesb
Guest
Good game Adelaide will be a force to be reckon with in the back half of the season. They'll be tough to beat. Special mention to Zullo. He was in the wars tonight, but he had a good game. WSW won the game, but it wasn't their best performance by any stretch. Juric, looks to be a star of the future. Already has 3 goals in 4 games, who knows what his tally will be. Another good game on FTA.
Stevo
Guest
Great game for FTA and well played both sides. AU pretty good and should be there abouts come the business end of the year. Juric excellent pickup for WSW and not sure why he left AU.