Adelaide United defender Iain Fyfe has admitted he’s already looking forward to the ‘fresh start’ that’ll come when the Reds compete in the Asian Champions League.
United has little to play for other than pride and nuisance value in its remaining three A-League matches and it’ll be hard for its players to remain focussed on the task at hand.
Fyfe said the team was keen to perform in the next few weeks in order to get some momentum heading into the ACL.
“Obviously it has been a pretty disastrous campaign in the league but this will provide us with a fresh start and chance to start over,” he said.
“There are still games in the league to play obviously but we’ve got to use these games as a stepping stone for the ACL and to find form and to find that confidence.”
“We need to get it back. We’ve got a team full of confident individuals, we are just lacking a little bit of that confidence collectively as a team.”
Fyfe said the selection of the ACL squad had already caused some disappointment among the group with Brazilians Cristiano and Alemao missing out on selection.
“It’ll probably have a little bit of a negative effect. As an individual you’d probably be a little bit disappointed in missing out – it’s a big tournament and you want to be a part of it,” he said.
“I feel for the boys a little bit because Alemao has been playing really well when he’s been in the team, Cristiano as well, so it’s disappointing for them.”
The Reds travelled to New Zealand on Thursday giving them plenty of time to prepare for their clash against the Phoenix.
Wellington should enter this clash as warm favourites but Fyfe said Adelaide remain a dangerous side.
“Across the league there’s not much between the 10th-placed team and the first-placed team, we’ve played Sydney, we’ve beaten Sydney, played Gold Coast they scored an equaliser in the 93rd minute but we played them off the park this season,” he said.
“I think the main thing that separates the teams at the top and the teams at the bottom is confidence.”
“Wellington is a funny old team, they are very good at home, very, very good. They’ve still got that carrot there of making the top six and doing a bit of damage.”
