Source: Radio New Zealand
Wellington Phoenix captain Alex Rufer and Auckland FC’s Lachlan Brook scored for their sides the last time they met in the A-League in December. Photosport
Wellington Phoenix vs Auckland FC
Kick-off: 5pm Saturday February 21
Sky Stadium, Wellington
Live blog updates on RNZ
A one-sided rivalry is still a rivalry.
That is the opinion of the Auckland FC players and coach ahead of the sixth New Zealand A-League derby between the Wellington Phoenix and Auckland.
Auckland have won all five previous derby matches, including the two games this season.
In December Auckland won 3-1 at home and a month earlier Auckland had won 2-1 in Wellington.
Across all derbies there is an average of 3.8 goals a game and only one clean sheet in the first game played back in November 2024.
Injuries and unavailability have hit both teams and prevented two of the competition’s leading goal-scorers going head-to-head on Saturday.
One of the Phoenix’s key signings Sarpreet Singh will not play in his first derby after his return to the A-League club was cut short after picking up a long-term injury in his first game back in seven years.
Despite Singh’s absence there are still All Whites in both sides hoping to get on the plane to the Football World Cup in June and to use the match-ups against their national team team mates to impress All Whites coach Darren Bazeley.
Form
Auckland are sitting in second on the A-League ladder coming off a 1-all draw to Sydney FC on Tuesday night.
The Black Knights are trying to move on from a start to the calendar year which included three losses, two draws and a win in January.
The Phoenix are 10th following a 2-all draw with Central Coast Mariners in the last round.
Last month Wellington had two wins, two draws and a loss.
By the numbers
Across the season the Phoenix have lost more times than they have won at home this season – three wins, four losses.
Whereas Auckland have won more times on the road than they have lost – four wins, two losses.
In derby games, the Phoenix have scored four goals compared to Auckland’s 15.
This season Phoenix have had 11 different goal-scorers, while Auckland have had six different players find the back of the net.
The Phoenix are ranked the most accurate team in the league when it comes to shooting, with 91 of 160 shots on target. Auckland sit in fourth in this statistic with 97 of 210 shots on target.
Auckland can be vulnerable at set pieces with five goals conceded including three from corners. Wellington have conceded three goals from set pieces.
Squads
Sam Cosgrove will miss the derby. photosport
Auckland FC will be without striker Sam Cosgrove who picked up his fifth yellow card of the season, which requires him to miss a match.
Marlee Francois has bone bruising following Tuesday’s game and is in doubt to play.
Auckland FC squad: Michael Woud, Hiroki Sakai, Jake Girdwood-Reich, Nando Pijnaker, Louis Verstraete, Cam Howieson, Felipe Gallegos, Sam Cosgrove, Guillermo May, Marlee Francois, Jimmy Hilton, Francis De Vries, Callan Elliot, Jesse Randall, Jake Brimmer, Dan Hall, Logan Rogerson, Jonty Bidois, Lachlan Brook, Bailey Ferguson
Sarpreet Singh will miss the derby after getting injured in his first appearance for the Phoenix in seven years. www.photosport.nz
All Whites attacking midfielder Singh will be sidelined for up eight weeks after getting a medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury in his left knee in the last round. Fullback Tim Payne has also been ruled out of the derby with a hamstring injury.
Wellington Phoenix squad: Joshua Oluwayemi, Alby Kelly-Heald, Eamonn McCarron, Lukas Kelly-Heald, Isaac Hughes, Matthew Sheridan, Bill Tuiloma, Manjrekar James, Jayden Smith, Dan Edwards, Tim Payne, Tze-Xuan Loke, Alex Rufer, Paulo Retre, Anaru Cassidy, Fin Roa Conchie, Kazuki Nagasawa, Carlo Armiento, Sarpreet Singh, Sander Kartum, Luke Brooke-Smith, Ramy Najjarine, Nathan Walker, Nikola Mileusnic, Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues, Ifeanyi Eze, Corban Piper, Luke Supyk
What they said
Nando Pijnaker. Photosport
All Whites defender Nando Pijnaker said Auckland’s dominance put a bit of a burden the players.
“I’ve never really been a part of something like this where we’ve won so many times in a row so it’s interesting. Every game that goes by that we win I guess puts a little bit more pressure on you because you want to keep winning and you want to make this the normality which I don’t think it is, but we’re really confident.”
Auckland FC coach Steve Corica said despite winning five out of five it was still a rivalry with the Phoenix.
“We don’t want to get carried away with that, we want to continue winning obviously we want to make it six from six in the first two years but we know it’s going to be a tough game. I think they’re playing some good football we’re going to have to be on our game definitely need to perform well, we need three points as badly as they do.”
Bill Tuiloma and Paulo Retre of Wellington Phoenix. www.photosport.nz
Wellington Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano said he felt good heading into the derby despite the record.
“I must have smashed a couple of mirrors somewhere because the amount of bad luck we’ve had over the last couple of seasons, especially in the derbies, we haven’t had things go for us but I feel like we’re due for one.”
Another All Whites defender Bill Tuiloma will play in his first New Zealand derby after joining the Phoenix at the start of the year and said there was a “determination” to get the first win over Auckland.
“I’m just fired up and I’m excited… you could see it that I’m playing against my home team from where I’m from but I’m very excited, the whole team’s pumped for it.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
