Four months later, Phoenix is back to action

After more than four months, the only Oceania full-professional football club is back to competition. The Wellington Phoenix, current ranked 3rd in the Australian top-tier Hyundai A-League, will take on the top-tabled Sydney FC this Friday at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, Sydney at 7:30pm local time – the match will kick-off the resumption of A-League after the forced break due COVID-19 pandemic.

The team coached by Ufuk Talay just regrouped this month; recently Phoenix won by 3-0 a friendly match against Western Sydney Wanderers in preparation for their return to the A-League competition. For this clash against the league 1st-placed side, Talay will not count on three players: Tim Payne and Oli Sail that were suspended by the club after breaking the quarentine and Cameron Devlin that is also suspended, but for yellow cards accumulation.

The last match of Phoenix was in March, 15th against Melbourne Victory where they played a fantastic match winning the Melbourne-based side in Wellington by 3-0 – goals of David Ball, Gary Hooper and the Mexican wonder Ulises Davila. Counting on for the league, the Nix had won their last four matches in the process.

For the rest of the season, Phoenix will not be able to play anymore in New Zealand as only six venues will host the remaining clashes of the season – all of them in Australia – as a measure to protect players and all people involved in the matches from coronavirus infection. “The remainder of the Hyundai A-League 2019/20 Season will now see the 27 matches played over 34 days with the Hyundai A-League 2020 Finals Series moved back a week,” said Greg O’Rourke, FFA’s Head of Leagues.