When Perth Glory’s Josh Risdon walks out onto nib Stadium on Saturday night to face the Western Sydney Wanderers, he will accomplish a feat only six Glory players have completed before him – appearing in 100 Hyundai A-League matches wearing the Perth Glory FC jersey.
It’s an amazing tale for the 23-year old, who recently made his Socceroos debut against Bangladesh in a World Cup Qualifier last month.
The boy from Gelorup, in Bunbury’s south, would have already etched his name in the A-League record books had it not been for a thigh strain that kept him out of action for the past three weeks.
Risdon returned to the starting line-up earlier this week in the triumphant 1-0 win over champions Melbourne Victory and is set to play his ‘century’ against table leaders Western Sydney Wanderers; ironically they are the only two teams he has ever scored against.
His match winning goal against the Wanderers in March last season made Australia sit up and take notice of his versatility and goal scoring threat.
Risdon had been knocking on the Socceroos door for some time and was rewarded for his talent and skill by Coach Ange Postecoglou who included him in the 23-man squad for November’s World Cup Qualifiers. Risdon made his Socceroos debut in the second of those qualifiers against Bangladesh and played a critical role in helping Tim Cahill score his second goal of that match.
Risdon, who won the 2012 Most Glorious Player (MGP) award, said his goal was to always live his passion and dream to the fullest.
“My football dream started when I was 7 years old playing for Bunbury United. I didn’t realise I wanted to play professionally until I was about 12 when I started travelling to Perth and was playing for ECU Joondalup” he said.
“From there I got selected to play for the NTC (National Training Centre) with Kenny Lowe as my mentor. He instilled in me some virtues that are with me to this very day. He used to say ‘Play with a smile and finish with a sweaty shirt’ and that has stuck with me since those days.”
Risdon will join former Glory players Jamie Coyne (119), Jacob Burns (116), Steven McGarry (115), Jamie Harnwell (110),Naum Sekulovski (108), and Danny Vukovic (106) as the Glory’s prestigious 100 gamers.
“It’s a great achievement for me and to join that list is an honour and it’s going to be a proud moment for myself and my family and hopefully we can cap off the night with a win over the Wanderers heading into Christmas,” he said.
Josh Risdon and Perth Glory will face off against the Wanderers at nib Stadium on Saturday night, in a bid to edge closer to the top six.
Kick-off is at 6.40pm
Tickets to the match can be purchased HERE
Saturday, 19 December 2015
Perth Glory v Western Sydney Wanderers FC
nib Stadium, Perth
Kick-Off: 6:40 PM (Local) (9:40 PM (AEDT)
Referee: Jarred Gillett
Assistant Referee 1: Josh Mannella
Assistant Referee 2: Andrew Lindsay
Fourth Official: David Bruce
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 7.00pm (AEDT) and Sky Sport 1 (New Zealand)
Radio Broadcast: 720 ABC Perth, ABC Local Radio WA, 702 ABC Sydney, ABC Local Radio NSW, Grandstand Digital, Online & via the ABC Radio Mobile App – A-league Live.
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #PERvWSW
Perth Glory squad: 1.Ante COVIC (gk), 2.Alex GRANT, 3.Marc WARREN, 5.Antony GOLEC, 7.Gyorgy SANDOR, 10.Nebojsa MARINKOVIC, 11.Richard GARCIA (c), 12.Jerrad TYSON (gk), 13.Diogo FERREIRA, 14.Chris HAROLD, 15.Hagi GLIGOR, 17.Diego CASTRO, 18.Mitch OXBORROW, 19.Josh RISDON, 23.Michael THWAITE, 24.Jamal REINERS, 28.Joe KNOWLES, 29.Aryn WILLIAMS
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 5.Antony Golec (promoted), 15.Hagi GLIGOR (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 6.Dino DJULBIC (ankle – 6 weeks), 8.Ruben ZADKOVICH (knee – indefinite), 16.Sidnei SCIOLA (quad – 2 weeks), 20.Guyon FERNANDEZ (hamstring – 2 weeks)
Western Sydney Wanderers FC squad: 1.Dean BOUZANIS (gk), 3.Scott JAMIESON, 4.Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY (c), 6.Mitch NICHOLS, 7.Romeo CASTELEN, 8.DIMAS, 9.Federico PIOVACCARI, 10.Dario VIDOSIC, 11.Brendon SANTALAB, 12.Scott NEVILLE, 14.Golgol MEBRAHTU, 16.Jaushua SOTIRIO, 17.ALBERTO, 18.ANDREU, 19.Mark BRIDGE, 20.Andrew REDMAYNE (gk), 21.Jacob PEPPER, 22.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 9.Federico PIOVACCARI (promoted), 22.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: Nil
