Adelaide United today departed for Sydney with a similar squad that saw them through to the Australia Cup Round of 16.
Carl Veart’s Reds will face the Wanderers at Marconi Stadium on Tuesday night, and fans of both teams will remember well the recent fiery clashes between the sides.
They last met in a fiery 3-2 win to the Reds in March, and a 4-4 draw before that.
The Reds won 1-2 in the only other Australia Cup tie between the sides in October 2017, which was a semi-final clash at Campbelltown Sports Stadium.
Veart on what Western Sydney Wanderers will bring…
“It’s a little bit undecided what we’re going to get from them as they’ve had a big changeover in their squad, so we’ll expect them to play a similar brand of football as they did last year.
“We had some great results with them last season with some entertaining games, so hopefully tomorrow night is the same thing.”
On Nestory Irankunda’s ‘recovery’…
Nestory Irankunda will not travel to Sydney for the Cup tie after a confronting fall in the Young Reds’ first-leg RAA NPL semi-final against Campbelltown on Friday night.
While Veart confirmed that Nestor is “100 per cent fine”, it is a precautionary move to keep the youngster at home.
“Nestory has recovered and while the fall looked confronting on the night, he’s 100 per cent fine and not experiencing any lingering symptoms.
“So from that point of view, he’s disappointed and a bit shocked at all the commotion surrounding this event as he feels like he is fine to play.
“But the doctor has advised that because his head hit the ground and considering his age – we have to be very careful with young players so he’ll be given the time to return to play.”
On the squad itself…
“We’re one of the fortunate ones who have been able to roll over their squad this season, besides Hiroshi (Ibusuki) who is coming back from that calf injury.
“He is back to full training but not match ready, so we’re looking forward to other players stepping up for us again.
“There is a challenge in that it’s still pre-season and we’re not playing week-to-week, so in that regard we’re still preparing for the season and making changes to our style of football and the way we want to play.
“It’s an opportunity for us tomorrow night to see how that development is going.”
