Adelaide United opened the Isuzu UTE A-League season in style on Friday night with a three-nil win over reigning champions Central Coast at Coopers Stadium.
The victory was the club’s first win in an opening round of an A-League season since the 2014/15 campaign when it won 2-1 away to Brisbane Roar.
It was also the Reds’ first win at home in Round 1 since a year earlier – a 3-1 win over Perth Glory in Josep Gombau’s first match as coach on October 13, 2013.
Here are some other stats that will help impress your mates:
- Nestory Irankunda reached a maximum speed of 37.02 km/h in Friday night’s win, setting a team record. By comparison, the only player in the English Premier League to exceed 37km/h in 2022/23 was Manchester City’s Kyle Walker who reached 37.31km/h. In his record-breaking 100m sprint, Usain Bolt’s average speed was 37.58km/h, so Irankunda was running seriously fast on Friday night!
- Zach Clough’s penalty kick goal in the 64th minute means he has now scored in three straight matches to start the 2023/24 season (including two Australia Cup games).
- Ryan Tunnicliffe became the third Englishman to represent Adelaide United after Joe Keenan and Zach Clough. The most recent foreign player to debut for the club was Hiroshi Ibusuki on January 15, 2022. This means there was a 645-day interval before a new foreign player made their debut with the team.
- Alexandar Popović completed 90 passes in Friday night’s match, achieving a new personal record while wearing the Adelaide United jersey.
- Friday was captain Ryan Kitto’s 161st game in Reds’ colours, moving him into outright third place for most Adelaide United A-League appearances, ahead of Michael Marrone’s 160.
Most AUFC A-League appearances
- Eugene Galekovic – 238
- Isaías – 209
- Ryan Kitto – 161
- Michael Marrone 160
Adelaide United take on Melbourne City on Sunday October 29 at 6:30pm at Coopers Stadium. Tickets are available here.
