Wellington Phoenix head coach Giancarlo Italiano is wary of the “dangerous” Heidelberg United side which stands in the way of the Nix and a place in the semi-finals of the Hahn Australia Cup.
The Phoenix travelled to Melbourne on Monday afternoon for Tuesday night’s quarter-final at Olympic Village in Heidelberg West.
The NPL Victoria high-fliers stunned Western Sydney Wanderers 3-0 last Tuesday to book their place in the quarter-finals. It’s the biggest ever margin of victory for a member federation against A-League opposition.
As well as being second in NPL Victoria with a round to play, the Bergers were runners-up in Football Victoria’s Dockerty Cup earlier this month and Italiano has the utmost respect for them.
“Structurally they’re very good,” he told media ahead of the side’s flight to Melbourne on Monday. “[They set up in] a 4-2-4, the two sixes cover the half spaces defensively, they counter-attack quite well [and] they’ve got a lot of A-League experience.
“Ben Collins is a really good player for them at the back, [Anthony] Lesiotis controls their midfield quite well and their front two…are dangerous players.
“They’re a dangerous team. They’ve only lost three games in the NPL. They’re fighting on all fronts; the league, the [Dockerty] Cup and now the Australia Cup as well.
“Wanderers last week, even though it was 3-nil, I thought they (Western Sydney) controlled a large part of that game and just couldn’t capitalise, but that was because of Heidelberg’s discipline.
“We’re going to go there knowing that probably one goal or two goals might just be the difference in the game.
“I don’t think they’ll give too much, and we won’t give anything up either.”
Italiano has made two changes to the matchday squad which overcame Nunawading City in the round of 16, with club captain Alex Rufer and goalkeeper Josh Oluwayemi travelling in place of reserve team players Mac Munro and Matt Foord.
New signing Nikola Mileusnic was deemed unready for the match while Corban Piper, Nathan Walker, Alby Kelly-Heald and Jayden Smith remain sidelined with injuries.
Rufer is poised to make his season debut against Heidelberg after missing the pre-season opener against Wrexham AFC and the previous two rounds of the Cup.
“I took a little bit of an extended break post national team just to sort out an ongoing niggle that I had,” he said at Wellington Airport on Monday. “But other than that, I’m happy, I’m healthy and I’m ready to go.
“I’d love to play as many [minutes] as possible. For this game I’m expecting to get around the 30 minute mark, but I’ll play as long as I need to play.”
As well as getting his body right the All Whites midfielder recently became a dad for the first time.
“It’s been a blessing. It’s one of the most amazing feelings I’ve ever had and probably will ever have.
“Becoming a father has really changed my perspective on a few things and makes me feel really lucky to be in the job that I am.”
He’s been impressed with what he’s seen from the sidelines in the first month and half of the men’s pre-season.
“It’s been really positive. We’ve played three games and we’ve won three.
“People talk about opposition and things like that, but we’ve gone out there and done our job, we’ve implemented a new style, been much more aggressive and the boys have done really well, especially the young players.
“We just need to keep continuing in that way and improving.”
Rufer sees the Australia Cup playing an important role in the team’s development.
“It’s important to stay in the Cup because we want to win something so that’s first and foremost.
“To keep winning and keep playing good games is very, very important for us.
“Our only focus is tomorrow and making sure we play well and get the result. We can’t look too far ahead.
“The boys have looked really good, everyone’s in a positive mind frame and I’m really excited to be involved tomorrow.”
The Australia Cup quarter-final between Wellington Phoenix and Heidelberg United is scheduled to kick-off at Olympic Village in Melbourne at 9:30pm (7:30pm AEST). Broadcast details are TBC.
Wellington Phoenix squad:, 1. Josh OLUWAYEMI (gk), 5. Fin ROA CONCHIE, 6. Tim PAYNE, 7. Ifeanyi EZE, 8. Paulo RETRE, 9. Hideki ISHIGE, 11. Carlo ARMIENTO, 14. Alex RUFER (c), 15. Isaac HUGHES, 17. Gabriel SLOANE-RODRIGUES, 18. Lukas KELLY-HEALD, 23. Luke SUPYK, 24. Xuan LOKE, 25. Kazuki NAGASAWA, 27. Matt SHERIDAN, 29. Luke BROOKE-SMITH, 40. Eamonn MCCARRON (gk), 42. Fergus GILLION.
Unavailable: 3. Corban PIPER, 10. Nikola MILEUSNIC, 19. Nathan WALKER, 30. Alby KELLY-HEALD, 39. Jayden SMITH.
