Western Sydney Wanderers head coach Alen Stajcic believes the Isuzu UTE A-League is the “most challenging league in the world” and he explained why.
The Wanderers will face a resurgent Perth Glory at HBF Park on Friday night, with Western Sydney coming off a derby triumph over cross-town foes Sydney FC.
Stajcic’s Wanderers will have to contend with long-distance travel, time-zone changes and Perth’s summer conditions.
“People think it’s easy, but it’s probably the most challenging league in the world,” Stajcic told reporters.
“In terms of travel, jetlag – it doesn’t matter which team you play for. There’s always eight to 10 hours of travel, staying away from home, and time-zone changes.
“And that all plays a part on your body clock when you’re running around for 90 minutes at maximum. Especially playing in the middle of summer with heat and humidity, it’s a big test for the players.”
Both Western Sydney and Perth are in the midst of two-game winning streaks.
“When you see a team or players individually lift for a derby, fans are like, why don’t you do that every week? For me as a coach, no game is more important than the other. Every game is just as important,” Stajcic added. “And we should be taking that mentality every week, whether there’s 2,000 people or 20,000 people.
“That’s what pro athletes do, and that’s what winners do. For us to become winners, we have to have that mentality.”
