Isaías says it has not been hard for Adelaide United to switch their focus to Sunday’s Hyundai A-League clash against Central Coast Mariners, following their FFA Cup 2018 Final celebrations.
The Reds will be determined to avoid an FFA Cup hangover after clinching the trophy on Tuesday night against Sydney FC for their visit of Gosford.
Isaías stated “football doesn’t have a memory”, intimating you are only as good as your next game, and that the Reds cannot afford to become complacent based on past success.
“We enjoyed it a lot after we won the trophy on Tuesday night,” Isaías told reporters Adelaide Airport.
“But now it’s time to think of the next game and we’re only focusing on Sunday.
“We had a light recovery the next day (on Wednesday), we had lunch together, and we spoke about the FFA Cup.
“But now it’s enough and football doesn’t have a memory.”
Adelaide, like the Mariners, have drawn their opening two league matches and the Club Captain insisted their attention is solely on Sunday’s game.
“I think we don’t need to talk about the FFA Cup anymore,” he insisted.
“We’re professional players and we know that it’s very nice to win a trophy, it’s something that doesn’t happen very often.
“But we enjoyed enough on Tuesday night and it was an amazing experience, but now we need to move on and think of the next game.”
For the match, wingers Nikola Mileusnić and Ryan Kitto have been included in Marco Kurz’s extended squad after recovering from respective injuries. Meanwhile, striker, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos, returns from international duty with the Young Socceroos.
The Spaniard welcomed their additions and said Stamatelopoulos, a recognised out-and-out number nine, adds another dimension to the team.
“They’re important for us, everyone is important and I’m very happy for them that they’re in the squad again,” he said.
“He’s (Stamatelopoulos) an important for us and also for Marco to have this reference point up front, but Ben (Halloran) did an amazing job these last three games so we can’t complain about that.”
The 31-year-old also believes Central Coast are a much more complete outfit than the one that lost 3-0 to the Reds at Marden Sports Complex in the FFA Cup Round of 32 in August.
“I think they’re much stronger than last season and stronger than when we played them earlier in the FFA Cup,” he said.
“They’ve signed two or three very important players with experience and with high quality.
“I think they’re even fitter than the first game we played against them.”
Adelaide United face Central Coast Mariners in Round 3 of the Hyundai A-League 2018/19 season on Sunday, 4 November at Central Coast Stadium. Kick-off is at 4.30pm ACDT. Live and Exclusive on Fox Sports and streamed on the My Football Live App.
