Adrian Caceres is not a greedy man but he admits he’d love to add to his solitary start for the Wellington Phoenix.
Caceres’ only Hyundai A-League start since moving from Central Coast was against his former team-mates back in September.
Since then he has had a few cameos off the bench and in 20 minutes against Perth Glory provided much of the impetus needed to snatch a 1-1 draw to keep his side’s unbeaten home run intact.
The attacking midfielder created several opportunities for team-mates with some pin-point deliveries into the box and it was his blocked shot that led to Paul Ifill’s equaliser with eight minutes to go.
“I don’t think I can do any more than what I’ve done,” said Caceres. “Every time I’ve come on I’ve done well for the team. I always try and play for the team.”
“It’s hard because a lot of people – family members – tell me I should be a bit more greedy and go for goal so I can get a start.”
“But I tell them it’s not like that. I think if you do your bit as part of the team and you do the right thing for the team you’ll get the start.”
Caceres arrived in Wellington with a niggling hamstring injury, which impacted on his early performances – off the bench against Queensland Fury and in his Phoenix starting debut against Central Coast when he replaced Daniel who was in Brazil following the birth of his daughter Luisa.
“I knew I wasn’t ready for that game but I had to do a job for the team,” the Argentina-born Australian said.
“I’ve worked hard to get myself fit and get myself to the right level and every time I’ve come on I’ve shown a little bit of what I can do and hopefully that can translate into 90 minutes.”
An away trip to the Newcastle Jets awaits the Phoenix following the FIFA international break.
But with a 3-0 triumph over Branko Culina’s men still fresh in its mind, the Wellington team will cross the Tasman with some confidence.
The speed of striker Costa Barbarouses was a telling factor in that win at Westpac Stadium as he frequently got the better of Jets defenders Matt Thompson, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Angelo Costanzo and Tarek Elrich.
“Speed is important in any team,” admitted Caceres. “But also, what I think was important was that we won the midfield battle. We were very competitive.”
“We were very competitive all over the park. When we do that as a team we destroy teams. That was a good positive sign against Newcastle.”
The big talking point in the New Zealand capital this week though has been the All Whites’ World Cup qualifier second-leg against Bahrain which will be played in a packed Westpac Stadium on Saturday night.
With Mark Paston, Ben Sigmund, Tony Lochhead, Tim Brown, Leo Bertos and David Mulligan on international duty, along with coach Ricki Herbert, the Phoenix has been down on numbers at training this week.
Caceres will be one of the 35,500 fans cheering on his Phoenix team-mates on Saturday night.
“I’m looking forward to it. It’ll be good to watch the All Whites try to get through to the World Cup. It would be an amazing historic thing if they did and a great achievement. I wish the boys all the best.”
