Adelaide United Head Coach, Carl Veart, says his Reds are raring to go following the Isuzu UTE A-League World Cup break.
This can be attributed to Captain Craig Goodwin’s standout performances in FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ which has inspired his teammates, Australia, and admiring fans across the globe.
While Goodwin was impacting every game he played for the Socceroos, his Adelaide comrades gained increased motivation as they kept their legs ticking over at the VALO Training Centre in the City of Playford.
“The boys have been very interested in the World Cup and they’ve been especially pumped up after watching Craig perform so well and they can’t wait to take the field with him again,” Veart said.
“It’s not just great for our group, but for all of Australia to see how well Craig and the whole Socceroos squad went because those close to the A-League feel our local boys get taken a little bit for granted at times.
“We need to keep the fan support and the atmosphere going now, exactly like what we saw in our last home game against Melbourne Victory – the atmosphere was electric.”
Veart and his coaching staff first afforded a break to the group to freshen up immediately following that Original Rivalry win, and upon return they were put through their paces in training, internal trials, and a friendly match away to Western United that ended in a 3-3 draw.
“It was a good performance and to get 90 minutes into the players was beneficial for us, and we mixed that in with conditioning and other match scenarios,” Veart detailed.
“The group will be ready to go Friday night in what we anticipate will be a challenging match-up against Brisbane, who are well-organised defensively.
“We’ll also have to be aware of guys like Charlie Austin, who’s a threat in those key forward areas in particular.”
Veart is optimistic the momentum reached by United towards the start of the World Cup break can be carried through.
“We find ourselves in a decent position after the first six rounds and we found some really good form towards the end of that block of games and we’re quite happy so far,” he said.
“We’ve been working hard and hopefully we can find shades of that again.
“It’s been a matter of keeping everyone focused, fit, and ready to pick things up where we left off.”
In some uplifting news, Bernardo is aiming for clearance from the doctors to start running this week and to slowly loading his foot up again. Meanwhile, Zach Clough is also firming for a return to the field in the next two weeks as he continues his rehabilitation from a thigh injury.
“We won’t be taking any risks with Bernardo as he is a young player and we’ll be giving him the time to make a full recovery,” Veart explained. “He has been showing strong signs of improvement which indicates the surgery went well.
“And Zach is progressing well too.
“We are hopeful he will be back in some capacity for our next home game against the Jets, which is excellent.”
World Cup hero, Goodwin, will do as he always does; he will be putting his hand up to be involved in the encounter in Brisbane on Friday evening. Veart said his Captain is refreshed and recovered and it is well-known that there isn’t much that will keep the Reds and Socceroos talisman away from the park.
Adelaide United will be taking on Brisbane Roar at Moreton Daily Stadium Friday at 7:15pm (ACDT).
