The Wellington Phoenix are opening 2025 in Melbourne, where the club’s long overdue for a win.
The Phoenix are playing Melbourne City at AAMI Park on Friday evening to kick-off round 12 of the Isuzu UTE A-League season.
The men are remarkably winless in their last 21 visits to Melbourne’s rectangular stadium since April 2017 and last beat City at the venue 12 years ago when they were called Melbourne Heart.
Phoenix head coach Giancarlo Italiano says their record at AAMI Park hasn’t been a focus this week.
“Not at all. It’s a normal standard week,” Italiano said before training on New Year’s Day.
“We treat every opponent with the respect that they deserve, and our strategy is always to win every game.
“The fact that we haven’t won there for a long time, the only thing that does is maybe swings the odds in our favour as at some stage we’re going to break that hoodoo.
“But again, that’s not spoken about.”
City are without eight first team squad members, including Socceroos Mathew Leckie and Marco Tilio, and played Central Coast Mariners in Gosford on New Year’s Eve, drawing 1-1.
However, Italiano doesn’t believe it’s a good time to playing the three-time A-League premiers.
“I wouldn’t say there’s an easier time to play them.
“They’re still a dangerous team, they have some very good imports and even though they played last night they’re still going to be very hard to beat at home.
“Aurelio [Vidmar] has done a really good job, especially with the amount of injuries that he’s had.
“He’s been able to bring some younger players through, like [Zane] Schreiber and so on that have done really well.
“They have the nucleus of last year’s team and I also rate their boys up top.
“They’re the sort of team that if you give them enough opportunities, they will punish you.”
The Nix snapped a three-match losing run with a 2-1 win over Newcastle Jets in their final match of 2024, but Italiano believes his side is still very much a work in progress.
“I think realistically the group has set a very high expectation for itself and what it wants to achieve this year.
“Was it the football that we wanted to play? I don’t think it was at a consistent level.
“I felt there were patches, but it was more promising than the Wanderers game where we lost our way in that first half.
“We stuck to the gameplan, even though it was a little bit cagey.
“It was a big three points because it got us away from Newcastle and it also kept us with the remainder of the pack.”
Wellington start the round in ninth place, just two points behind fifth-placed Melbourne City.
Giancarlo Italiano will be without his captain for tomorrow’s match, with Alex Rufer ruled out with illness.
“It’s not good news but this is an opportunity for some of the other senior boys to start leading.
“Whether it’s illness or injury, we’re going to go through these ups and downs so it’s a really good test for the team.”
Fullback Tim Payne is one the senior players who will have to step up in Rufer’s absence.
Payne has travelled to Melbourne after getting through training this week. He played through a ligament injury in his foot against Macarthur last weekend, a day after club staff ruled him out of action for weeks.
The round 12 Isuzu UTE A-League match between the Wellington Phoenix and Melbourne City is scheduled to kick-off at AAMI Park in Wellington at 7pm (5pm AEDT) Friday and will be broadcast LIVE on Sky Sport 3 in New Zealand and on Paramount+ in Australia.
Most recent meeting: 9 March 2024 – Melbourne City 1 Wellington Phoenix 0
All-time A-League head-to-head: Phoenix 12W, City 19W & 8D.
Wellington Phoenix squad (two to be omitted):1. Josh OLUWAYEMI (gk), 3. Corban PIPER, 4. Scott WOOTTON, 5. Fin ROA CONCHIE, 6. Tim PAYNE, 7. Kosta BARBAROUSES, 8. Paulo RETRE, 9. Hideki ISHIGE, 12. Mo AL-TAAY, 15. Isaac HUGHES, 18. Lukas KELLY-HEALD, 19. Sam SUTTON, 23. Luke SUPYK, 24. Oskar VAN HATTUM, 25. Kazuki NAGASAWA, 27. Matt SHERIDAN, 29. Luke BROOKE-SMITH, 30. Alby KELLY-HEALD (gk), 39. Jayden SMITH, 41. Nathan WALKER.
Unavailable: 11. Stefan COLAKOVSKI (injured), 14. Alex RUFER (c) (illness), 21. Marco ROJAS (injured).
Melbourne City squad (two to be omitted): 1. Jamie YOUNG (gk), 2. Callum TALBOT, 6. Steven UGARKOVIC, 13. Nathaniel ATKINSON, 16. Aziz BEHICH (c), 19. Zane SCHREIBER, 20. Arion SULEMANI, 22. Germán FERREYRA, 26. Samuel SOUPRAYEN, 27. Kai TREWIN, 30. Andreas KUEN, 33. Patrick BEACH (gk), 35. Medin MEMETI, 38. Harry POLITIDIS, 39. Emin DURAKOVIC, 41. Lawrence WONG, 42. Ben DUNBAR, 46. Ben MAZZEO, 47. Kavian RAHMANI, 50. Mikey GHOSSAINI.
Unavailable: 7. Mathew LECKIE (injured), 8. Jimmy JEGGO (injured), 10. Yonatan COHEN (injured), 15. Andrew NABBOUT (injured), 17. Max CAPUTO (injured), 21. Alessandro LOPANE (injured), 23. Marco TILIO (injured), 34. Jayden NECOVSKI (injured).
Main image: The Wellington Phoenix warm up for training at NZCIS. Photo: Cam McIntosh/Photomac.
