Americans as Keane as mustard
TFOOTBALL
he Wellington Phoenix waited a long year before they could play their first game in New Zealand. This was not the homecoming they had envisaged.
The Phoenix on Saturday fell to a second straight 4-1 defeat to begin their second season, outclassed by Western United at Sky Stadium.
The visitors were even more recent additions to the competition, playing their inaugural season after the A-League Women expanded to 11 teams.
But while the Phoenix struggled in their maiden campaign, taking 11 games until they first won, Western United have started in spectacular fashion.
They edged reigning champions
Melbourne Victory 1-0 last week before closing strongly to dispatch the Phoenix, inspired by a couple of American imports the Phoenix lacked the quality to match.
While Wellington did well to recruit three Football Ferns in the off-season, the Australian side lured American World Cup winner Jess McDonald.
The forward grabbed the only goal against the Victory and opened the scoring in Wellington. But it was compatriot Hannah Keane who really stole the show.
Keane, who has extensive American and European experience, regularly tore apart the Phoenix defence in the first half before finishing them off with a late brace.
Wellington had been in position to seize their first point in front of their home fans after Marisa van der Meer gave them a deserved equaliser in a promising opening half. But like last week, when they conceded four times after the break, they failed to sustain that effort.
“Our first half was quite good — we came in and were doing really well,” captain Kate Taylor told Sky Sport.
“Last week, we struggled after halftime, so we made that a key point for us to work on for this game.
“We came out after halftime and did good, but it was just about switching off and I think some individual mistakes. We’ve got to work together better as a team and talk more, and make it easier for each and every one of us.”
Having a player of the calibre of McDonald would certainly help. The 34-year-old took little time to replicate last week’s efforts, tucking away Keane’s cross in the 16th minute after Taylor had miscued a clearance.
The Phoenix responded well to falling behind and enjoyed plenty of possession in the opposition half, finding reward when van der Meer looped in a header from Michaela Foster’s corner to become the first Phoenix player to score in Wellington.
Foster followed that moments later by making a goal-saving intervention at the opposite end, denying McDonald a chance to fire in a second.
The daughter of the All Blacks coach turned in a second straight impressive performance in a second position, with her set-piece delivery particularly threatening throughout.
The home side were clearly boosted by their goal and built pressure throughout the first half, though they were always in danger of being hit on the counter by the powerful Keane.
After the break, though, the Phoenix began to fall away, with only
Foster’s set pieces troubling the visitors’ defence.
Unfortunately for the home side, it was Western United who found a second goal from a corner as Sydney Cummings — another American-born player — expertly headed home with 20 minutes to play.
The visitors began to create an abundance of chances and soon found a third goal, with Keane poking home after the Phoenix had been unable to clear another corner, before the striker added a second following a brilliant cross from Emma Robers.
The Phoenix will now head back across the Tasman and it won’t get any easier, with their next game coming against champions Melbourne Victory next Sunday.
● Wellington Phoenix 1 (Marisa van der Meer 23)
(Jess McDonald 16, Sydney Cummings 71, Hannah Keane 77, 82).