It may be one of the longest domestic league trips in world football, but travelling to New Zealand to take on Wellington Phoenix holds no fears for Glory according to Richard Garcia.
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The men in purple are due to take on the resurgent Kiwi side at Auckland’s Eden Park on Sunday (kick-off at 11.35am WST) in a game which could define their prospects of securing a Finals berth.
And with Glory having been regular winners on the chilly side of the Tasman over the years, Garcia is quietly confident that the logistical challenges involved can and will be overcome.
“The trip is always pretty tough, but it’s always been fairly successful,” he said.
“We always tend to travel well to New Zealand and the boys always relish playing there.
“You don’t want to go all that way and come away with a loss and that’s something that the boys have in their minds; to come away with those three points.
“Everyone is coming to the pointy end of the season and needs those points, so it should be an interesting contest and we’re well prepared to take whatever comes our way.
“We have three winnable games, albeit with a lot of travel, against people that are in and around us.
“The first hurdle is Wellington in Auckland and we’re just focusing on that.”
In terms of early team news, international duty will rule Chris Ikonomidis out of the crunch clash, but Garcia is hopeful that the Socceroos frontman will commit his future to Glory once his commitments with the national side are completed.
“We’d love to have him here and are still in discussions with him,” he said.
“We know Chris is a fantastic player who obviously will have a lot of people in for him, but I think we’ve shown that this is the right place for him and it’s just about now coming to an agreement and making sure that both parties are happy.”
Glory will be out to avenge two defeats at the hands of the ‘Nix this season having gone down 3-0 in Wollongong in early March and 3-1 at home a month later.
And they will be facing a home side aiming to extend a nine-game unbeaten run which has included five wins.
Glory’s only previous visit to Eden Park came in February 2013 when a first-half Jeremy Brockie goal decided the game in favour of the hosts.
Match Details
Sunday, 30 May 2021
Wellington Phoenix v Perth Glory
Eden Park, Auckland
Kick-Off: 11:35am WST ( 3.35pm Local) (1:35pm (AEST))
Referee: Alex King
Assistant Referee 1: Andrew Lindsay
Assistant Referee 2: Mark Rule
Fourth Official: Tim Danaskos
VAR: Nick Waldron
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 1:00pm (AEST) , Sky Sport 7 (New Zealand) , Kayo Sports (www.kayosports.com.au) and MyFootball Live App, Live Fast and Data Free for Telstra mobile customers
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #WELvPER
To purchase tickets visit www.a-league.com.au/tickets
Wellington Phoenix squad: 1.Stefan MARINOVIC (gk), 2.Liam McGING, 5.James MCGARRY, 6.Tim PAYNE, 7.Reno PISCOPO, 8.Cameron DEVLIN, 9.David BALL, 10.Ulises DAVILA, 11.Jaushua SOTIRIO, 13.Charles LOKOLI-NGOY, 14.Alex RUFER, 16.Louis FENTON, 17.Tomer HEMED, 18.Ben WAINE, 19.Sam SUTTON, 20.Oliver SAIL (gk), 21.Joshua LAWS, 23.Clayton LEWIS, 27.Steven TAYLOR, 41.Ben OLD
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 2.Liam McGING (promoted), 10.Ulises DAVILA (return from injury)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 3.Luke DEVERE (knee injury, 1 week)
Perth Glory squad: 1.Tando VELAPHI (gk), 2.Jason GERIA, 5.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS, 6.Osama MALIK, 8.Kosuke OTA, 9.Bruno FORNAROLI, 10.Andy KEOGH, 11.Joel CHIANESE, 13.Luke BODNAR, 15.Brandon WILSON, 17.Diego CASTRO, 18.Nick D’AGOSTINO, 19.Callum TIMMINS, 20.Carlo ARMIENTO, 22.Josh RAWLINS, 23.Dane INGHAM, 24.Daniel STYNES, 26.Giordano COLLI, 29.Darryl LACHMAN, 33.Liam REDDY (gk)
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 22.Josh RAWLINS (promoted), 24.Daniel STYNES (promoted), 26.Giordano COLLI (promoted)
Outs: 7.Chris IKONOMIDIS (international duty)
Unavailable: 4.Sebastian LANGKAMP (groin – 1-2 weeks)
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