After 16 days off the Mariners will return to action on Tuesday night to take on Western Sydney Wanderers at Central Coast Stadium.
Back-to-back wins against Newcastle Jets and Macarthur were followed by a long break for Alen Stajcic’s side and that period has seen the arrival of Stefan Jankovic, Marcos Ureña and Michal Janota after completion of their hotel quarantine periods.
For the Wanderers, they registered a win against Newcastle last weekend before a one-all draw in the Sydney derby on Saturday.
They will now face a short turnaround to Tuesday’s clash, a similar one to which the Mariners faced earlier this month between the afore mentioned victories.
Final session before game day in the books! #CCMFC #WontBackDown#CCMvWSW tickets ?? https://t.co/4FktaTigsb pic.twitter.com/ULFZok3a2h
— Central Coast Mariners (@CCMariners) January 18, 2021
The arrival of the visa players has been a big boost for depth, but they are not causing selection headaches for Stajcic just yet with only Ureña included in the squad for Tuesday, although Stajcic spoke glowingly of the impact all three have had so far in training.
“They’ve only been out of quarantine for eight or nine days now, so it hasn’t been a long or extensive period of training yet,” he said on Monday.
“Obviously they’re adapting to the weather so it’s probably going to be tough for them to make the team in this first game but we’re looking to get them up to speed as quickly as we can.”
LISTEN TO STAJ’S FULL PRESSER HERE!
“Marco is true to his word; he has been fantastic in and around our young group.”
“He knew the group he was coming in to, we had a couple of zoom meetings before he even arrived and signed and he’s exactly the kind of character we want in the club.”
“He’s a leader, he’s experienced, he wants to share his knowledge and his skill with the group and bring everyone else along for the ride.”
“All three have adjusted really well to the group and bonded really well with the team in the short space of time they’ve been here.”
Almost as important as picking up two early wins, the Mariners kept clean sheets in both their opening matches and Stajcic highlighted the contribution of the whole team for the defensive effort so far.
Tidy hit from our new man @MarcoUrenaCR at our final session today. #CCMFC #WontBackDown #CCMvWSW tickets ?? https://t.co/4FktaTigsb pic.twitter.com/ALYtKQ2lqi
— Central Coast Mariners (@CCMariners) January 18, 2021
“Birraz has had to make one or two saves per game and that’s his job, the centre backs have had to defend three or four crucial moments but defending is not [just] a goalkeeper or two centre backs,” he said.
“It’s the whole eleven players, as a collective working together and putting in the hard yards to ensure that every line behind them has less work to do, and we’ve really defended well from up front, and I have to pay a lot of tribute to our forwards, who sometimes don’t like doing the work.”
“[But] In our squad everyone works together and to have that collective unity and spirit amongst the squad is important not just for our defensive effort but for our team spirit as well.”
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Match Details |
Tuesday, 19 January 2021
Central Coast Mariners v Western Sydney Wanderers FC
Central Coast Stadium, Gosford
Kick-Off: 7:05pm (Local)(7:05pm (AEDT))
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant Referee 1: Andrej Giev
Assistant Referee 2: Brad Wright
Fourth Official: Stephen Lucas
VAR: Kris Griffiths-Jones
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 7:00pm (AEDT), Sky Sport 7 (New Zealand), Kayo Sports (www.kayosports.com.au) and MyFootball Live App, Live Fast and Data Free for Telstra mobile customers
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #CCMvWSW
Squads |
Central Coast Mariners squad: 1. Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk), 3. Lewis MILLER, 4. Joshua NISBET, 5. Stefan NIGRO, 6. Gianni STENSNESS, 8. Oliver BOZANIC (c), 10. Daniel DESILVA, 11. Jack CLISBY, 12. Marcos UREÑA, 14. Daniel BOUMAN, 15. Kye ROWLES, 19. Matt SIMON, 20. Adam PEARCE (gk), 21. Ruon TONGYIK, 23. Dan HALL, 25. Matthew HATCH, 26. Jaden CASELLA, 29. Alou KUOL, 30. Jordan SMYLIE, 32. Max BALARD
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 12. Marcos UREÑA (Out of Quarantine), 23. Dan HALL (Promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: Nil
Western Sydney Wanderers FC squad: 2.Ziggy GORDON, 4.Dylan McGOWAN (c), 5.Daniel GEORGIEVSKI, 6.Tass MOURDOUKOUTAS, 7.Bruce KAMAU, 8.Jordan O’DOHERTY, 9.Bernie IBINI, 10.Simon COX, 11.Kwame YEBOAH, 13.Tate RUSSELL, 14.James TROISI, 17.Keanu BACCUS, 18.Graham DORRANS, 25.Philip CANCAR, 27.Nicolai MULLER, 30.Daniel MARGUSH (gk), 33.Mark NATTA, 38.Ali AUGLAH, 39.Thomas AQUILINA, 40.Noah JAMES (gk)
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 7.Bruce KAMAU (promoted), 25.Philip CANCAR (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 20.Vedran JANJETOVIC (long term injury)
