Adelaide United bounced back from last week’s loss with a hard-fought 1-0 win over the Newcastle Jets at Coopers Stadium on Friday night.
Marcelo Carrusca’s second-half penalty separated the two sides, in what was a relatively tight affair. The narrow triumph not only keeps alive the Reds’ top six aspirations in the Hyundai A-League, but also builds momentum ahead of the looming AFC Champions League beginning on Wednesday.
Here is what Head Coach, Guillermo Amor, said following the victory…
On the team’s performance:
It was a game with very good, high intensity. We played well and the attitude and the performance from the players was very good. They showed we have pride and this is very important. The table doesn’t change a lot because we’re last and it’s difficult, but this is a personal win, a professional win.
Discussing Isaias’ injury:
Tomorrow we’ll go to the doctor to check and after tomorrow we will wait to see if the scan is good or not. We don’t know (if it’s serious).
Talking about Kim Jae-sung’s Reds debut:
I think he played good. He’s a very good player, played well and physically he’s good. Technically he’s good, doesn’t complicate it, and gets into good positions. It’s not easy in one week (arriving in Adelaide) and having not too much training, but we need to speak more with him to give him more messages, more info, but we have days for this.
Discussing the importance of playing one game at a time:
The important thing is always the next game, and the next game was today (against Newcastle). The important game was today, this is true and I spoke with the players and the message was this. Newcastle is now and more important in this moment, after we have time to prepare (for ACL match with Gamba Osaka). But at the moment Newcastle was for us, and we need to recover now.
Discussing Riley McGree’s promising form:
I’m very happy for him. He deserves (his opportunity), he works, he wants, he’s hungry and we’re happy. I think the important thing for Riley is that he’s a very good player, and he can play in different positions. Today in the first-half he played number eight, Isaias didn’t play the second-half, so Riley played number six without problems and can play number ten as well. This is very good for the team.
Adelaide United will host Gamba Osaka in its first AFC Champions League 2017 group stage match on Wednesday, 22 February at Hindmarsh Stadium. Kick-off is at 7.30pm ACDT.
