Western United FC
1
Match Complete
Wellington Phoenix
0
| C. Pain |  | 93' | ||
| R. Bozinovski | | 93' | ||
| N. Milanovic | | 87' | ||
| 51' | | C. Lewis | ||
| T. Imai | | 37' | ||
| A. Prijovic |  | 10' |
| 22 | Shots | 16 | ||
| 8 | On Target | 5 | ||
| 13 | Fouls | 7 | ||
| 9 | Corners | 6 | ||
| 1 | Offsides | 2 | ||
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 | ||
| 4 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
The A-League finals get underway as Western United take on Wellington Phoenix at AAMI Park, Melbourne with both sides desperate to book a place in the semi finals. Join The Roar for live scores from 7:45pm AEST.
The good news for Western United is that Leo Lacroix is back from suspension and Josh Risdon could even make a return having been injured since early March.
Unfortunately Nikolai Topor-Stanley is out injured and United will definitely miss his defensive skills against a Phoenix side who have won seven of the subsequent eight meetings against United.
United coach John Aloisi has acknowledged that it’s frustrating to have key players out but that he still backs his fit players to do the job.
“Yes we would love a full squad, but that’s part of the game, you have to deal with certain situations and obstacles, and we’ve dealt with it well all season, and we look forward to whoever is playing going out there and putting on a performance we want,” said Aloisi this week ahead of the match.
Phoenix have had a good season but too much inconsistency has cost them a better finishing spot with big wins being marred by big losses. This has seen them finish the regular season with the second worst goal difference in the whole league.
They did beat United 4-1 last time out though and that counts for sure. From a selection point of view, it’s a good news, bad news situation for the Kiwi side with Clayton Lewis picking up an injury while on international duty but Oskar van Hattum back available.
Game Information
Venue: AAMI Park, Melbourne
Kick-off: 7:45pm (AEST)
Live stream: Channel 10, Paramount+
Betting: Western United $1.83, Wellington Phoenix $4.00 – odds via PlayUp
Western United Squad
Adisu BAYEW, Noah BOTIC, Rhys BOZINOVSKI, Ben COLLINS, Ajak DEU, Alessandro DIAMANTI, Luke DUZEL, Benjamin GARRUCIO, Tomoki IMAI, Neil KILKENNY, Rene KRHIN, Leo LACROIX, Steven LUSTICA, Ayom MAJOK, Dalibor MARKOVIC, Nicholas MILANOVIC, Connor PAIN, Sebastian PASQUALI, Dylan PIERIAS, Alexandar PRIJOVIC, Josh RISDON, Ryan SCOTT, Jerry SKOTADIS, Christian THEOHAROUS, Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, Ivan VUJICA, Lachlan WALES, Dylan WENZEL-HALLS, Jamie YOUNG
Wellington Phoenix Squad
David BALL, Matthew BOZINOVSKI, Callan ELLIOT, Louis FENTON, Oscar van HATTUM, Gary HOOPER, Joshua LAWS, Clayton LEWIS, Jackson MANUEL, James McGARRY, Kurtis MOGG, Ben OLD, George OTT, Alex PAULSEN, Tim PAYNE, Nicholas PENNINGTON, Reno PISCOPO, Alex RUFER, Oliver SAIL, Gael SANDOVAL, Jaushua SOTIRIO, Finn SURMAN, Sam SUTTON, Ben WAINE, Scott WOOTTON
Kewell
Roar Rookie
Tigertown and Withthedawn, ultimately the decisions like this should made in the best interest of the Football brand even if it makes some teams unhappy. If it means many more seats in a country crying out for competitive sport and giving football a chance to be viewed by many more on tv then any decision not to move the game to NZ is wrong. I also think that the roster should not be set in stone. Let's face the AFL gives many favours to new teams including location switches and player priority picks to ensure success. I think Perth should be given priorities given the tyranny of distance same with any other side that shows distress. People will come to watch if their teams are winning and or are competitive they won't come if they are loosing. Australian football is the winner. So Wellington are now out , and the Football brand suffers for it.
NoMates
Roar Rookie
Next season, playing back at home will make a difference. As for tonight's game we had our chances so good luck to WU.
Hudddo
Roar Rookie
All right, I’ll walk that back, I feel that having “this” majority female panel doesn’t give the sport appeal (in all honesty i didnt mind Mel or Tara). It may still be sexist, i dont care you dont know me, it doesn’t change my view. Also,I don’t know if anything paramount or 10 are doing at the moment has base I’m logic.
Hudddo
Roar Rookie
Mariners are hoping to face city after the Shaun Evans debacle this year. If we beat AU, and that’s a massive if, I honestly think we can rip them apart.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
By a small margin I would prefer that we play CCM.
Tigertown
Guest
Hopefully the new stadium pays off for WU. Gosh I hope it’s soon, because the Australian football community is losing their patience with WU. But hey: “If you build it... They will come.”
Tigertown
Guest
Done. We’re the Don Bradman of The Roar, all of us football fans. Good innings!
Tigertown
Guest
Good question. I think the Mariners fear City, & that would work in Paddy’s favour. That game would be spicy. I’d expect CCM’s Miller to be the enforcer (& to keep a cool head).
Grem
Roar Rookie
Looks like I actually got the single that was needed!
Grem
Roar Rookie
Come on Roarers - one more comment for a century! It's nerve wracking being on 99. Just a short comment is needed - a defensive prod will do.
PeterCtheThird
Guest
You’re right, it does. If you have anything to say about the quality of the commentary/discussion, say it. If not, and your objection is just to their gender, then yeah, you’re just sexist. And as to the “PC” remark, no-one except prejudiced dinosaurs uses it. It’s like shouting “Wah! You’re cancelling me!” And, again, the decision on the composition of the panel will have been made purely on commercial grounds - what will get them the most sets of eyes and thus $$.
Grem
Roar Rookie
And who would you prefer City to play - Adelaide or Mariners?
Full Time NSD
Guest
The stadium they are building is meant to have 1000 or some other big number of town houses in the area to offset the cost. Once they have a stadium than the new crop of A League fans will be WU first in the area rather than converts from Victory and City. It will be a steep road ahead of them to match City or Victory. Victory have the previous successes & City have the current successes.
Grem
Roar Rookie
And thrives - except at AAMI when WU play!
Tigertown
Guest
One word: Tara :thumbup:
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Great to see The Roar management have this live scoreboard. And nice to see so many comments. Football lives on.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Aloisi – all class. Great and fair summary of the game. And we actually got a live match on The Roar – thanks.
Togertown
Guest
I expect a very vocal & intimidating Adelaide crowd. Both sides look decent too. I still think Jason Cummings will decide the match - he’s been a revelation at Central Coast.
Tigertown
Guest
Dwight? Ok... I’m sure I’ll read an article about this soon. If that is true, then we’re in for a treat. Hey, things just got interesting! I hope it’s true.
Grem
Roar Rookie
And now for The Adelaide v Mariners game. This will be a beauty. Good teams who will both play to win rather than not lose. I think I'll put a few dollars on 4 or more goals to be scored. Hard to tip against the Mariners, but they'll need to play to their absolute best to win.