Pressure fuels fire for striker in derby
Lack of field time keeps Socceroos skipper Jedinak’s woes rolling on
WANDERERS striker Oriol Riera admits he thrives on the pressure of derby matches and it certainly showed against Sydney FC on Saturday night.
The Spanish star scored a superb header to put Western Sydney ahead in the opening minutes of an intense battle at Allianz Stadium, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
Riera has played in two of Spain’s most passionate derbies – the Catalan derby between Barcelona and Espanyol and the Galician derby between Deportivo La Coruna and Celta Vigo – and says the physicality and atmosphere of his first Sydney derby, was similar to Europe.
“A derby is always physical, always hard and you have to be strong mentally,” he said.
“I like playing these games. I like the atmosphere, I like the pressure. I think that good players play better, not when the stadium is quiet.”
In Riera, the Wanderers seem have finally uncovered a world class foreign striker. He has already notched up seven goals for the club and has scored in every game he’s played.
But Riera is not getting carried away – he knows there will come a time when scoring might not come as easily.
“The only way you can control this is to play hard, be strong and keep going. The most difficult thing now is to maintain this level.”
The Wanderers started the game with more intensity than their rivals and were soon up 2-0. But Riera says the penalty to Sydney just before half time changed the game and allowed the Sky Blues to come out stronger. While happy with the result, Riera says the team can learn from the second half. THE chances of Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak appearing in decisive World Cup qualifiers against Honduras next month appear shot.
But as Ange Postecoglou prepares to name his squad in the coming days, the under-fire national team coach would have been heartened by several shining performances by his Aussies abroad on Saturday.
While Aaron Mooy was the pick of the bunch – the Huddersfield Town midfielder named man of the match for his goalscoring role in his side’s 2-1 upset of Manchester United – there were other Socceroos also starring.
Also in the Premier League, goalkeeper Mat Ryan kept a clean sheet in Brighton and Hove Albion’s stunning 3-0 win over West Ham United on Saturday morning.
While in the Dutch Eredivisie, South Australian winger Craig Goodwin scored a late equaliser for Sparta Rotterdam in its 1-1 draw at Excelsior.
Milos Degenek (Yokohama F. Marinos), Robbie Kruse (VFL Bochum), Massimo Luongo (Queens Park Rangers) and Ryan McGowan (AlSharjah) all played 90 minutes.
And the push for Jackson Irvine to be promoted to Hull City’s starting XI only got stronger after a promising half-hour cameo in the Tigers’ 1-0 win at Barnsley.
But Jedinak’s continued absence from the Aston Villa teamsheet is a huge concern ahead of the trip to San Pedro Sula to play Honduras on November 11. Despite Villa boss Steve Bruce last week intimating the midfielder was nearing a return from persistent groin woes, the 33-year-old still hasn’t featured since September 12.
That 45-minute appearance against Middlesbrough has been his only game time since playing for the Socceroos in June.