Oceania Football Center

The final match of 2019 year for Wellington Phoenix could really let the fans of the black and yellow side happy. Probrably the best game so far in the season for the side coached by Ufuk Talay, saw the club away from home reach the mark of 15 points in the table as they won Western United away from home. The game marked the debut goal of the youngster Callum McCowatt as Wellington Phoenix player.

It was a game to remember for many of the Phoenix fans as they beat the team coached by their former commander Mark Rudan. Rudan left Phoenix in the end of the previous season in a controversial manner, as he decided to depart from the club even having still one-year contract with the team from New Zealand. The coach said he had family commitments and needed to go back Australia – he did so, approached the spot as head coach of the newcomers in the league Western United as three ex-Wellington Phoenix players followed him to the team: Andrew Durante, Filip Kurto and Max Burgess.

Phoenix controlled the game since the initial minutes creating good opportunities to score. Chances wasted by Reno Piscopo and Ulises Davila gave the signals Ufuk Talay’s team was close to find the first goal of the match. It came in the final minutes of the first half as a fantastic play by the Mexican star Ulises Davila ended in a superb assist to the Englishman David Ball to just tap the ball to the nets of Filip Kurto to put Phoenix ahead.

The first half ended with a 1-0 advantage for the Nix, but just in the starting of the final part of the game the veteran striker Besart Berisha forced the Phoenix stopper Marinovic to make a sensational save to deny the home side an equalizer. Despite creating some chances, Western United could not take advantage of the quality of players as Alessandro Diamanti to level the game. The youngster Callum McCowatt – after a superb assist of Reno Piscopo – battled inside the area and could finish to the right bottom of Filip Kurto to double the advantage of Phoenix and score his first goal for the club.

The introduction of the experienced striker Gary Hooper in place of Reno Piscopo gave Phoenix more firepower upfront. The striker provided a great pass to the Mexican midfielder Ulises Davila, that apporached the penalty box free of marking and just netted the left bottom of the opposition goalkeeper to make it three for the visitors.

The chance to clain a clean sheet for Phoenix was reduced to zero when Valentino Yuel finished and the captain Steven Taylor blocked the ball with his arm, allowing a penalty kick for the home in a bizarre way. Diamanti made no mistake and scored the consolation goal for the green and black side with no chance of defense for Marinovic.

Gary Hooper also scored through a fantastic header after a lapse of concentration of Western United defense, but the goal did not count as the VAR shown the striker was in an offside position. The final numbers of the game saw Phoenix keep their good momentun extending their unbeaten run to seven as they beat by 3-1 away from home Western United.

Wellington Phoenix will be back to the pitch in the next Saturday, as they return to Wellington to face Central Coast Mariners at 7PM NZT.

The only full-professional football club from Oceania will be back to the pitch to face various of their former players when they take on Western United away from home. Western United is coached by former Wellington Phoenix coach Mark Rudan, that left the club in a very controversial way – many players of Phoenix as the long-time serving captain Andrew Durante and the goalkeeper Filip Kurto followed Rudan steps to the new club in the Australian top tier.

Western United, currently ranked 3rd in the league standings, is having a very good debut season in A-League. Besart Berisha, the famous A-League striker, got back for the league to play the newcomers and already netted six so far for the black and green side.

Both sides already faced each other in the league so far, the first match of the season for them, where Wellington Phoenix suffered a 1-0 defeat at home with a Berisha goal. The former Italian international Alessandro Diamanti might be key for Western United alongside the Greek midfielder Panagiotis Kone.

Despite facing a very hard opponent, Phoenix comes from a six-unbeaten games run and in their past game draw at home against the top-tabbled team Sydney FC. The club hopes to continue their good run in the season and will hope to see more from the English marksman Gary Hooper. The striker is still to have a real impact in his new club starting just one match so far in the season. Hooper recently featured in the Reserves squad in ISPS Handa Premiership looking for more game time and getting fit from his previous injury – the fans as keen to see more of the striker, but the coach Ufuk Talay did not give any sign that Hooper may start against Western United.

Ulises Davila is being the best player for Phoenix so far in the season; the Mexican already scored seven for Phoenix and is having a major role for the team. Cameron Devlin, taking the place of Alex Rufer in the midfield, impressed in the last both matches he started and might be having another go against Western United.

A new rivalry was created in A-League due the departures of Wellington players – and the coach Rudan – to Western United, the New Zealand fans are hopeful to correct the result from their last match in WestPac Stadium and the recent good records of the Kiwi side prove they can grab an upset playing in the opposition stadium.

The match will be telecasted by SkySport and will be livestreamed by MyFootball channel in YouTube for all countries that does not have a TV channel with the rights of telecasting the league.