Maruschka Waldus says she has enjoyed her time with Adelaide United, as the Reds prepare for their final W-League regular season game at Coopers Stadium on Sunday.
Waldus spent two seasons with Sunday’s opponents – Western Sydney Wanderers Women – and admitted she prefers the slower lifestyle tempo of Adelaide, rather than the hustle and bustle of Sydney.
The Dutch centre-back has quietly gone about her business in the 10 matches she has played with the club, demonstrating immense composure and consistency.
“I absolutely love it to be honest,” Waldus said, when asked about her experience in the City of Churches.
“I think the team is very good and has a good mix of young talents and some older experienced girls and some girls like middle aged (mid-20s).
“The staff is good and I love Adelaide, the city as well. I’ve been in Sydney for two seasons and it’s a little bit more relaxed here.
“No traffic. Everything is like within 20 minutes, it’s convenient.”
The Reds return to Coopers Stadium for the first time since November 2018, hoping to break the Westfield W-League attendance record for a standalone game.
Waldus said the team was looking forward to the spectacle and must use the home crowd to its advantage.
“That makes it even more exciting and more special,” the 28-year-old said.
“We’re playing in front of our own fans and hopefully a lot of fans.
“So we should take that as an advantage and use that and take that energy from them within our game and try to make them proud and give them a good experience.”
Waldus felt the Reds dropped two points in their last encounter with Western Sydney after twice surrendering the lead in its 2-2 draw and anticipated a tough match.
“I think it’s going to be a hard game because the Wanderers have grown as a team during the season,” she said.
“They’ve a pretty young team and I think they’ve started to connect better and now you can see they’re winning games as well.
“We as a team have to stick together and just play our own game and then we should beat them.”
And Adelaide must collect all three points to have any real hope of securing a maiden finals appearance after its 4-2 loss at Brisbane Roar Women last week.
Waldus felt the defeat was their own doing and said their missed chances at pivotal times proved costly.
“We didn’t give away that many chances, it was more that we gave our goals away too easy and they were very effective and we weren’t that effective,” she said.
“… I think it’s the best team in the league but we lost it because we made mistakes and not because they were so good.”
Match details:
Sunday, 21 March vs Western Sydney Wanderers Women
Westfield W-League 2020/21 – Round 13
Kick-off 3.30pm ACDT
Gates open 2.30pm ACDT
Venue: Coopers Stadium
Broadcast: FOX Sports, ABC
Stream: Kayo Sports, MyFootball Live App
