He speaks very little English and has had to check out the Hyundai A-League on YouTube but new Newcastle Jets striker Abdiel Arroyo says he’ll have no problem showing his quality in the competition.
The 25-year-old striker touched down in the Hunter on Thursday and will begin physical testing with the Jets today (Friday).
Arroyo, who has played 47 times for Panama including at the recent CONCACAF Gold Cup, spoke through an interpreter to reporters on his first day at the club.
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Despite needing to settle in a new country, different league and not knowing the language, Arroyo is confident he can stamp his class on the Hyundai A-League.
“It’s not difficult at all because inside the football pitch, it’s all the same language,” he said.
“It’s a great opportunity to come and do something with the Newcastle Jets and that’s the reason [I came to Australia].
“I came with my mindset and I’m very prepared to do the maximum I can.”
Depending how quickly Arroyo overcomes jetlag, he could play his first game in Jets colours in a trial match against Western Sydney Wanderers in Sydney on Wednesday.
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Wanderers in five-star showing on the Gold Coast
Western Sydney Wanderers continued their preparations for their FFA Cup 2019 Round of 32 clash against Perth Glory with a dominant win over Queensland NPL side Gold Coast Knights on Thursday night.
Playing on the Gold Coast, the Wanderers put on a glittering display to come away with a resounding 5-0 win.
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Kwame Yeboah, who scored the club’s only goal in the 2-1 loss to Leeds United last weekend, continued his good form by scoring two more goals against the Knights.
Yeboah scored early in each half, while fellow speedy attacker Bruce Kamau also chipped in with a brace.
New recruit Radoslaw Majewski got his first goal for the club, rounded off the scoring with a neat finish in the 90th minute.
HEAD HERE for a full report on the match.
Wanderers crush Gold Coast Knights in pre-season friendly: https://t.co/ymln4z9y9S #WSW pic.twitter.com/93r8I1dMbM
— WS Wanderers FC (@wswanderersfc) July 26, 2019
Pressing issue for Sydney’s new strike duo
It may be early days but all signs suggest Sydney FC’s new strike pairing will be a successful one, according to Adam Le Fondre.
Le Fondre and new signing Kosta Barbarouses were fielded up front together for the first time and both scored in Wednesday night’s 3-0 friendly win over St George City.
Although the pair’s success will be judged on how many goals they can score, the Englishman revealed Steve Corica has had them working hard on their pressing game during pre-season.
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“We’ve done a lot of work on pressing and working as a pair to put the amount of pressure to win us the ball back and build our attacks,” Le Fondre said.
“It was the first game for us to work together on our partnership and I though it went really well.”
Ikonomidis ahead of schedule
Chris Ikonomidis is nearly back in full training for Perth Glory and is on track to be fit for the start of the new Hyundai A-League season.
The 24-year-old underwent shoulder surgery at the end of last campaign after dislocating the joint against the Central Coast Mariners in April.
Ikonomidis missed out on the Caltex Socceroos training camp and friendly against Korea Republic in June as a result.
“The only thing I’m not doing is full contact, but that should come after the 12-week mark,” Ikonomidis told the club website.
“It’ll be a few more weeks of building up my fitness and core strength and then I should be ready to go.
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“I’m actually ahead of schedule in terms of my recovery; I’m progressing really well.
“We said at the time of the operation that the target was round one of the Hyundai A-League season and anything ahead of that would be a bonus, so we’ll just work back from that.”
