Adelaide United coach John Kosmina praised the impact of overseas imports Jeronimo Neumann and Fabio Ferreira in Friday night’s 1-0 victory over the Western Sydney Wanderers at Hindmarsh Stadium.
Adelaide United coach John Kosmina praised the impact of overseas imports Jeronimo Neumann and Fabio Ferreira in Friday night’s 1-0 victory over the Western Sydney Wanderers at Hindmarsh Stadium.
Neumann scored the 69th-minute winner and his first A-League goal for the Reds, although he should have netted five minutes earlier when he failed to convert a penalty won by Ferreira.
Ferreira, once a student of Jose Mourinho’s at Chelsea, streaked clear into the Wanderers’ box before defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley wrestled him down.
Neumann stepped up and took the spot-kick but hit a sluggish shot at visiting goalkeeper Ante Covic, who made a routine stop.
Nonetheless the Argentine was impressive in conjunction with Ferreira in the attacking half as they engineered the majority of the chances Adelaide had in a tepid affair.
Following the narrow victory, Kosmina praised his foreign duo, giving a particularly glowing reference to Neumann who already has a goal and an assist to his name in the A-League.
“Jeronimo’s hungry for goals … they way he finished his goal, I haven’t seen anyone open up (the body and finish) like that for quite awhile,” Kosmina said.
“Knowing what he’s like, he would have been pretty annoyed with himself for missing that penalty and he was going to make up for it one way or another, and he did.
“He showed his composure and what sort of character he is to finish the goal the way he did afterwards.
“Fab was a bit shaky early on but we tried to play him a little bit narrow and that wasn-t really working because he’s a natural wide guy.
“He has pace to burn and he surprised me that he actually went as long as he did.
“Fabio’s presence and his speed, it panics defenders.”
While Neumann and Ferreira have had little time to adjust to Australian football, like some of the other A-League’s recent influx of foreign talent, Kosmina said he was not surprised at how quickly and successfully his recent signings have adapted.
Kosmina also added in his other South American signing Marcelo Carrusca as another who has instantly become accustomed to the Reds.
“Jeronimo, I’m not surprised with. He was picked off a DVD the same as Marcelo but there was enough on that to suggest he was a clever player,” Kosmina said.
“When Fabio came in for a trial I was really happy with him then and he was well and truly cooked.
“They were all signed because we saw what they could offer.
“We’ve got the three that we wanted, the three that we needed.”
