Brisbane Roar vs Wellington Phoenix
Friday 24 January
Kickoff: 7pm (local), 8pm (AEDT), 10pm (NZDT)
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane QLD
Referee: Chris Beath
Round 16 of the Hyundai A-League opens with the inform Wellington Phoenix travelling to Queensland to take on top of the table Brisbane Roar.
The Phoenix enter the match off the back of a 5-0 thrashing of Melbourne Victory in New Zealand last week. A big win had been a long time coming for Phoenix fans, having watched their team dominate the opposition in recent weeks without quite putting them away. The result was especially sweet for new manager Ernie Merrick who not only got one back over his former team but also saw signs that his new team has the potential to push for the playoffs if they can stick to his game plan each week.
Although Brisbane sit pretty at the top of the table they have struggled in recent weeks. They were beaten at home by Adelaide in their last game at Suncorp before last week being held to a scoreless draw away to Perth. Mike Mulvey won’t like the idea of going three games without a win and will have the team fired up for their return to Suncorp where Wellington have never won.
Both teams are missing influential players this week with the Phoenix releasing Carlos Hernandez and Kenny Cunningham for international duty while Brisbane are without Besart Berisha due to suspension and Ivan Franjic misses out through injury.
Head to head: Played 22. Brisbane 14, Phoenix 2, Draws 6.
Previous encounter: Phoenix 1-2 Brisbane, 14 Dec 2013 (Round 10)
Squads…
Brisbane Roar: 1.Michael THEO, 2.Matthew SMITH (c), 3.Shane STEFANUTTO, 10.HENRIQUE, 11.Liam MILLER, 13.Jade NORTH, 14.Diogo FERREIRA, 15.James DONACHIE, 17.Matt McKAY, 18.Luke BRATTAN, 19.Jack HINGERT, 20.Matthew ACTON (gk), 22.Thomas BROICH, 23.Dimitri PETRATOS, 26.Corey BROWN, 28.Brandon BORRELLO, 34.Patrick THEODORE, 35.Jai INGHAM
**Two to be omitted**
Wellington Phoenix: 1.Glen Moss (GK), 2.Manny Muscat, 3.Reece Caira, 4.Luke Adams, 5.Michael Boxall, 6.Josh Brindell-South, 7.Leo Bertos, 10.Stein Huysegems, 11.Jeremy Brockie, 12.Tyler Boyd, 13.Albert Riera, 14.Alex Rufer, 15.Jason Hicks, 17.Vince Lia, 18.Ben Sigmund, 20.Lewis Italiano (GK), 22.Andrew Durante (c), 24.Roy Krishna.
**Two to be omitted**
Eyes on: Jeremy Brockie
With Cunningham and Hernandez both absent the rest of the Phoenix midfield will need to lift if they are to competitive in the middle of the park. Jeremy Brockie has had a slow start to the season but showed some positive signs last week coming off the bench to score a goal and make some good forward runs with the ball.
Prediction:
While the Phoenix have never won away to the Roar they will enter the game with confidence having won their last two away matches against the Wanderers and Heart. The big question is can they overcome the loss of two of their star players and prove they are a genuine title contender this season. The Roar will enter the match as favourites and should have enough strike power to get the job done, even without scoring machine Besart Berisha.
Brisbane Roar 3 – 1 Wellington Phoenix
