It’s been quite the week for the Western Sydney Wanderers and their star forward Brandon Borrello.
Saturday night’s impressive 2-1 away win over Perth Glory – Western Sydney’s first away win in Western Australia for 10 years – finally gave Marko Rudan’s Wanderers something to smile given all that has transpired over the last eight days.
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Following their 4-1 derby demolition at the hands of Sydney FC, the Wanderers then stumbled again at home, this time losing 3-1 to bottom side Western United to kick off Round 20 in the Isuzu UTE A-League.
But before Borrello could look to help put things right on the pitch, he had matters to attend to off it.
“It was honestly tears of joy, he was born Monday morning,” Borrello told Paramount+ when reflecting on the birth of his son Luca, who was born on the day the Socceroo was due to fly to Victoria with his teammates ahead of their clash with Melbourne City.
“The boss let me catch a flight Tuesday morning, the day of the game. Our motto is ‘No Excuses’ so I was just happy to get over that hurdle. The little Bubs and Kristina were in perfect health which was good and she gave me the okay to fly to Melbourne.”
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What happened next though certainly brought the Wanderers star and his teammates back down to earth.
Captaining the side for the first time, Borrello and Co. were beaten 7-0 by three-time reigning premiers Melbourne City, their biggest defeat in club history whilst they also fell out of the league’s top six for the first time this season.
“We sat down after City and we confronted ourselves with what happened that night,” said Borrello when speaking to Paramount+. “The boss was very clear on what he wanted us to do and talk about.
“We said ‘if we’re outside the six now what do we have to lose?’ We’re throwing everything plus the kitchen sink at the moment.
He continued: “We’re here to make history. Some people might not believe it but as a group, we’re buying in. The boss has not had the easiest of times the last week or the last couple of weeks.
“Everyone in this team has bought in – rain, hail or sunshine and that’s the biggest part. As you see today, we’ve got three points going into the break and we can press the reset button now.”
Scoring the opening goal of the game against Perth, Borrello certainly helped inspire his side to a much-needed win at HBF Park and they now sit back inside the top six and level on points with rivals Sydney after substitute Lachie Brook’s 83rd-minute winner.
However Borrello’s transition from footballer to father promises to be somewhat disrupted at first as the Wanderers forward now gets to spend a little more precious time with his wife and son, albeit before lacing up the boots once again.
“I was able to fly home after that City performance the next morning and then, yeah, a day off with the little one. I got to give him a hug and a kiss and then (I was) off to Perth…
“Now it’s into the Socceroos camp so you know hopefully I can make him proud.”
The good news for Borrello, his family and the Western Sydney fans though is the Wanderers only have one more trip outside of New South Wales before the end of the season – a final-day trek to face Melbourne Victory.
Plenty of time to master those nappy changes.
