These are the key talking points from Round 21 in the Isuzu UTE A-League.
The weekend had plenty of action – from Adelaide United’s demolition of Wellington Phoenix and more derby delight for Western Sydney Wanderers.
There was also another red card, creating history in the competition, and a first goal for Macarthur FC’s injury-replacement striker.
With a lot to dissect, here are the key talking points from Round 21 of the Isuzu UTE A-League.
Romero makes the most of his moment in the sun
It’s been a long time coming for Jason Romero.
In fact, he’s had to wait until the age of 28 to earn his professional contract and in only his second start for Macarthur FC – he showcased why the Bulls were prepared to give him a shot on a short-term deal.
The American striker fired home the opener in their 1-1 draw with leaders Melbourne City on Sunday, making the most of his chance in the team in only his second start for the club.
But Romero’s story is nothing short of incredible, having had to bide his time for an opportunity at the professional level.
As a youngster, he earned a call-up to the USA’s Under-18 side and trialled with MLS outfit Colorado Rapids as well as Mexican top-flight team Atlante FC.
However, he struggled to take the step up into senior football, spending time with Pima College, the UCLA Bruins and FC Tucson before landing in Australia in 2018, joining NPL2 side St George Saints, where he scored a hat-trick in a grand-final triumph.
From there, he spent time in Sweden with Nykopings and Umea FC, before returning Down Under with St George City. He was playing in NPL2 as recently as 2021, before being picked up by APIA Leichhardt, where he dominated for the Tigers to finally earn his top-flight opportunity.
Last season he scored 11 goals in 24 matches before bagging four in three prior to his step up to the A-Leagues.
READ: Bulls’ newest signing hoping to make the most of a career first at age 28
And after Ulises Davila suffered a season-ending injury, the finals-chasing Bulls gave Romero his chance – signing him on an injury-replacement deal for the remainder of the campaign.
“I’d always been hungry for this opportunity but I knew I was getting older,” Romero told AAP last week.
“I always went in with the mentality of I’m going to give it everything I have.
“Maybe in the last year I had shifted my thinking so that if it didn’t happen then maybe it was time to get a full-time job.”
It was the Bulls’ cross-town rivals – among other A-Leagues clubs – who were interested in his services but turned down him signing him due to his visa status.
“The Wanderers basically told me that if I wasn’t classified as a visa player they would have signed me,” he said.
“That was a bit of a bummer for me and I tried to use that as fuel for the tank.”
Now, with Macarthur – who are just two points adrift of the top six – still looking for someone to stand up and truly make the number nine position theirs, Romero looks to potentially be the answer, at least for now.
Adelaide join an exclusive club
You have to go back to January 14 for the last time Adelaide United tasted a defeat amid their 10-game unbeaten streak.
It is a run that has Melbourne City “looking over their shoulder”, according to Paramount+ co-commentator and analyst Daniel McBreen after the rampant Reds crushed high-flying Wellington Phoenix 5-1 in a statement rout on Friday night.
For the first time in their history, Adelaide scored four or more goals in three consecutive home games as Luka Jovanovic, Lachlan Barr, Hiroshi Ibusuki and Craig Goodwin found the back of the net after Scott Wootton’s 16th-minute own goal.
READ: Can anyone stop the rampant Reds? Why the reigning premiers will be ‘looking over their shoulder’
The Reds have now scored 13 goals in their past three matches, having beaten City and Newcastle Jets 4-2 in successive weeks.
It means Adelaide have joined an exclusive club as just the third team in Isuzu UTE A-League history to score at least four goals in three consecutive games after Sydney FC (April 10, 2016 to October 15, 2016) and Melbourne City (November 27, 2015 to December 13, December 2015).
Sydney’s run spanned across the end of the 2015-16 season and the start of the 2016-17 campaign – the Sky Blues crushed Perth Glory 4-0 on April 10, 2016 before routing Western Sydney Wanderers and Central Coast Mariners by the same scoreline to begin the new term.
The Sky Blues went on to win the 2016-17 Premiership and Championship under Graham Arnold.
City’s run of four or more goals in three straight games saw them humble Perth and the Mariners 5-1 in back-to-back weeks before a 4-0 demolition of Newcastle Jets. In that season, John van’ t Schip’s side reached the A-League Men and Australia Cup semi-finals.
At Coopers Stadium on Friday night, it was another memorable outing for 17-year-old attacker Jovanovic.
Rewarded with another starting berth after scoring his first professional goal away to the Jets, he capped his Coopers Stadium bow with his first strike at the South Australia venue.
This season, the youngster has scored two goals in just 168 minutes of action.
As for Adelaide’s inspirational captain and Socceroo Craig Goodwin, he was at it again against the Phoenix.
He supplied and assist and scored a goal to continue his red-hot 2022-23.
Goodwin has now scored 10 goals in the Isuzu UTE A-League this season, tying his 2021-22 tally in seven less games. He has reached the figure in 1,710 minutes, having needed 2,173 minutes to post the same number last term.
The 31-year-old has scored 20 goals in 47 games for Adelaide and 28 in 65 league appearances since returning to his hometown team.
Wanderers boss sings star winger’s praises in light of doing it all without family
It’s been some couple of months for new Western Sydney Wanderers signing Amor Layouni.
Days after earning a recall to the Tunisia national team, Layouni wrote himself into Derby folklore, scoring twice and supplying an assist for Kusini Yengi in their 4-0 demolition of Sydney FC on Saturday night.
But since arriving earlier this year, the winger has helped take the Wanderers to another level, scoring three goals in five games along with tallying two assists. In fact, in the minutes he’s been on the pitch, the Wanderers have scored a whopping 13 goals in just under five games.
Layouni has done this all without his wife and six-week newborn by his side, who remained in Sweden after he relocated to Australia in February.
“They’re coming soon, I hope, it’s tough because I got a newborn baby and I went directly after, like, the day after she was born,” he told KEEPUP last week.
“It’s been a month and a half now and so that’s very difficult. But it is what it is… where your family is, that’s where you feel at home. It’s much easier if you have your family then you can live pretty much anywhere.
“But when I play football, I just think about football. So that is what keeps me going, the training every day. If I didn’t train or anything like that, it would be very, very difficult, I think.”
His coach Marko Rudan paid tribute to Layouni after the Round 21 Derby and the way he’s adjusted to life in Australia without his family being by his side in his first few weeks at Wanderland.
“We knew that he was going to come on his own and I knew that his wife was going to have a baby,” he told Network 10.
“Family is so important, as far as I’m concerned. It is the most important thing. It’s the bedrock of everything you do as a human being. We need to make sure that he was okay coming here.
“We care for our players. We care for the families of our players, as well. We want to make sure, particularly the foreign players, it’s never easy to settle into a new country.
“However, as we all know, whenever they do come to this beautiful land of ours, you know that they get welcomed with open arms and that’s everybody and that’s something that they also understand.
“We want them to enjoy their football, he was enjoying his football. He gets rewarded with a Tunisian call-up for the first time in a number of years, as well and don’t forget what Tunisia did in the last World Cup.”
‘Finals is a minimum’ – Sydney’s season hanging in the balance
While the Wanderers are in dreamland on the opposite side of the city, it’s back to the drawing board for Sydney FC.
The Sky Blues missed a glorious chance to solidify their place inside the top six going into the international break as they were beaten from pillar to post by their cross-town rivals.
Losses such as the one to Western Sydney has summed up a topsy-turvy campaign for Sydney, who had seemingly turned a corner after a run of results a month ago took them back inside the top six.
The wins had also somewhat alleviated the pressure on head coach Steve Corica after a poor start to the season, having missed the finals for the first time in five years in 2021-22.
Since their Derby success in February, Sydney have only won a single game in their last five (a 1-0 win over bottom-placed Melbourne Victory) and now find themselves precariously hanging on to a spot inside the top six – with a plethora of teams nipping at the heals.
“For a club, like Sydney to be in this situation we’re at. We’re not happy with it,” Sydney midfielder Anthony Cacerers told Network 10 post-game.
“Finals is a minimum requirement, really. We’re used to competing for silverware at the end of the year. That’s what we aim to achieve, but we’re far off it at the moment.
“We’ve got to regroup quickly, finish the season strong and try to finish in a solid position.”
Only four points separate Sydney from second-last Brisbane Roar and their final run of games to close out the season shape up as essentially a ‘six pointer’ from here on in.
Four of their last five games – starting with the clash against reigning champions Western United on April 1 – are against teams below them but are only four or less points away from usurping them inside the top six.
The outlier is an away trip to take on the red-hot Adelaide United on Good Friday.
If Sydney are to lock in a finals berth and avoid two consecutive campaigns without post-season action, they’ll essentially have to see off all comers.
However, given their inconsistent form this campaign – it’s anyone’s guess as to where they’ll finish when the regular season comes to a close in late April.
Perth youngster makes the most of rare opportunity in the side
What a moment for Trent Ostler.
With a number of key Perth Glory individuals missing, Ruben Zadkovich gave the youngster an opportunity in the starting line-up for their clash with Newcastle Jets – slotting him in for the first time this season alongside Socceroos striker Adam Taggart
And Ostler, who had only made three appearances for the entire campaign prior to Saturday evening and only nine in his senior career, repaid the Perth Glory coach’s faith – scoring their first of two equalisers in the 2-2 draw with the Jets.
READ: Turbulent week leads to gutsy Glory draw in display of ‘great character amidst adversity
It’s been a long journey to the top for the 20-year-old attacker, who battled back from two consecutive knee reconstructions to make his Isuzu UTE A-League debut last season – scoring his maiden goal for the club the following match against Macarthur FC.
However, he’s been forced to bide his time this season, waiting in the wings for an opportunity – which he took at McDonald Jones Stadium.
“Perth has backed me through all my injuries and all my setbacks,” Ostler told Paramount Plus after the game.
“Especially Rubes (Zadkovich) as well, he has been with me most of the ways for him to back me today and put me in the starting XI – I’m glad I was able to repay the faith.”
‘It means everything’: Green makes it two from two at home
Brisbane Roar still have a pulse.
Jay O’Shea’s stunning late goal helped Brisbane to a much-needed 1-0 victory over Western United, keeping their flickering finals hopes alive heading into the international break.
The Nick Green era has seen a vastly improved slate of performances from the Roar, who have now gone two from two at home since he took over and were unlucky to not take some points in their losses against Macarthur and Melbourne City – conceding late winners in both.
READ: ‘Absolute God of football’ keeps Brisbane’s finals hopes alive with stunning late strike
Post-game, the interim Roar boss spoke about the reaction from the fans at Kayo Stadium, who finally had something to cheer for after a difficult few months before he took over.
Brisbane, who parted with Warren Moon last month, are second from bottom but they are just four points outside of the top six.
“It means everything. It means everything to the players and the supporters,” he said.
“It’s what they want to come and see, an entertaining game of football and that’s what we’re trying to create. We’re trying to get at teams a little bit more and give it a go and try and get some more wins on the board.
“I mean, we took three wins before I came in from 17 and look, it’s not good enough and we need we need more wins on the board… It’s not an overnight process but you can see things fitting into place.”
For O’Shea, he is enjoying his best season in four years.
The 34-year-old midfielder has scored six goals in 19 league games this season – his highest-scoring return during his time in Brisbane, dating back to 2019-20.
It’s also his best return since finding the back of the net 15 times for Bury in England’s League Two back in 2018-19.
Unwanted A-Leagues history made
Red cards have been a common theme this season, and for that reason, 2022-23 will go down in the history books.
READ: A Victoria ‘hoodoo’ goes on but can this ‘circuit-breaker’ spark Victory into the finals?
On Sunday afternoon, the record was broken for the most red cards (42) in a campaign as a result of Fernando Romero’s dismissal in Melbourne Victory’s 2-0 win over high-flying Central Coast Mariners.
It had been a memorable outing for Romero, who became the first Paraguayan in Isuzu UTE A-League history to score in the competition before it all turned sour within 10 minutes.
He was sent off for a follow-through on Max Balard, who was caught with a studs-up tackle to the shin as the Victory loanee’s yellow card was upgraded upon a VAR review.
It means there have been 42 red cards this season, eclipsing the previous high tally of 41 from 2010-11.
