Brisbane Roar will play Wellington Phoenix in Dunedin in the first of their pre-season fixtures against Hyundai A-League opposition.
It was confirmed today Phoenix will host the Hyundai A-League Champions at Dunedin-s new Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday August 20, kicking off at 3.30pm (Qld time).
Exactly seven weeks before the Roar-s season opener against Grand Final foes Central Coast Mariners at Suncorp Stadium, Head Coach Ange Postecoglou planned to use the match to fine-tune his squad ahead of what shapes to be a hard-fought Hyundai A-League season.
“It-s not really about results this time of year, I-m sure they-ll be trying a few things and we-ll be trying a few things ourselves,” he said.
“With everyone back, we-ll be looking for some quality against tough opposition and I-m sure the Phoenix will provide that.”
The current Hyundai A-League Coach of the Year was also relishing the change of scenery for his players after a long pre-season of work in Brisbane.
“It-s a game against A-League opposition but it also gives us a chance to take the boys away from here for a few days,” Postecoglou said.
“By that stage, the whole squad will be in and to spend a few days away from our usual training set-up will be great.”
Brisbane Roar CEO Eugenie Buckley was pleased with opportunities the Wellington Phoenix match would bring.
“The club is looking forward to playing Wellington Phoenix and experiencing the state of the art facilities at the new Forsyth Barr Stadium,” Buckley said.
“We are excited to have this chance to branch out and take the Brisbane Roar brand out of Australia.”
Coach Postecoglou indicated the match was part of his plans to ensure the fitness and match sharpness of his squad were peaking leading into the start of the season.
“We-ll have a couple more A-League friendlies before the start of the season and we-ll ramp things up a bit leading into them,” he said.
“I-m pretty happy with our pre-season schedule, we-re playing games fairly regularly and the boys are slowly getting their fitness up and are also understanding our game plan a little bit better every week.”
