The Wellington Phoenix are off to a stellar start in the A-league Men‘s competition holding onto the top position on the table while remaining undefeated after six games.
Under new rookie head coach Giancarlo Italiano, the Phoenix had many doubters coming into the season, however they have silenced the critics after gaining 14 points out of a possible 18 to start the campaign.
Sky Sports New Zealand’s Jason Pine outlined the teams successful start to the season.
“They are defending better than they have in their entire history, in terms of keeping clean sheets and getting points that come with those. You start to look at the Wellington Phoenix and think top six might be a floor rather than a ceiling.”
The spearhead of the Phoenix has been striker Oskar Zawada. The polish number nine joined the team last season and was able to impress after taking time to adjust to Australian football, netting 15 league goals and winning the Phoenix player of the season.
“It took him a while to get going, but once he started to find the back of the net, he became a terrific striker last season scoring 15 goals. If you have a player in your team that is getting those sorts of numbers, you’re always in with a chance of picking up points.”
Over in Auckland, AKL Football 24 have named former Sydney FC Captain Terry McFlynn as their director of football ahead of the club’s inaugural Isuzu UTE A-League season in 2024-25. As they build towards their first season, the Sydney FC legend will oversee the club’s player and coach recruitment for the men’s, women’s and Academy teams, football operations and sports science.
“The news has been received positively. He is a great guy to have as a figure head for the footballing department and we now await the players and coaches he will bring to the club.”
“It is an exciting time to be in Auckland and watch this new team grow from nothing into something that could be really special” Pine summarised.