Teen sensation feasts on his Phoenix debut
‘‘Remember the name’’ would be applicable when introducing any other Wellington Phoenix prodigy.
But when your name is Liberato Cacace, it’s a hard one to forget.
Cacace, a 17-year-old defender, made his debut for the Phoenix in Friday night’s 4-0 A-League defeat to Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium.
‘‘My debut had to be against the top of the table, eh,’’ he sighed.
But Cacace relished the challenge, coming up against the competition’s best team. ‘‘It was a good challenge to take on and I thought I did well in the circumtances.’’
So who is Cacace and how did he end up making his Phoenix debut on Friday?
Cacace - or Libby as his teammates call him - was born and raised in Wellington. His parents are Italian, and his father owns La Bella, an Italian restaurant in Petone.
I want to train every day with them but you've also got school that same day." Liberato Cacace, 17
Oddly enough, Cacace said the Phoenix players love his dad’s cooking - recalling a moment 10 years ago when Andrew Durante came around for a barbecue.
‘‘Durante came to my house and now I made my debut with him ... it’s funny to look back at that.’’
Cacace said that working in the family business is a fallback option, but only if he doesn’t make it as a professional football player. At the moment his dream is still to play professionally when he finishes school.
Yes, that’s right, he will be back to school at St Pat’s Town today.
He said balancing study and training can be difficult but he has been getting advice from goalkeeper Keegan Smith, who was in the same situation last year.
‘‘It’s quite challenging to balance the two because I want to train every day with them but you’ve also got school that same day.’’
Cacace’s two favourite teams are the Phoenix and Napoli, his favourite player is Fabio Cannavaro and his childhood club was Island Bay.
‘‘It’d be my dream to play in Serie A and to play in Italy,’’ he said.
As for his A-League debut, the New Zealand under-17 representative only found out that he had been included in the match day squad when he attended training on Thursday morning. A few hours later he was sitting on a plane from Wellington to Sydney.
‘‘Tom Doyle was supposed to go but he dropped out through injury and I got the call-up,’’ he said.
Cacace was released onto the field with 36 minutes to go, deployed at left wing-back. Although he has spent most of his young career at centre-back, he said he enjoyed the rare chance to
bomb forward.
‘‘They kept telling me ‘be prepared, be prepared’ because you never know what’s going to happen. I was thinking in my head to keep focussed and when the time comes just give it your all as it’s a opportunity to decide your future, and I gave it my all.’’
Cacace admitted that his Phoenix debut came much earlier than expected but the taste of A-League action has only made him hungrier, now determined to put his hand up for further selection as the season wears on.
‘‘My goal is to hopefully get more minutes in the A-League and to impress the coach in case something opens up later in the coming years. I also want to keep working hard for the under-20s because the qualifiers are coming up for the World Cup next year. Then there’s finishing school as well.’’