Wellington Phoenix boosted their A-League Finals hopes by extending their unbeaten run to nine matches with an entertaining 2-1 win at Western Sydney Wanderers.
The Phoenix are now up to seventh in the table, two points outside the top six, after preying on the Wanderers' weaknesses at Bankwest Stadium.
Wellington targeted their hosts at set-piece situations throughout, with Dylan McGowan failing to effectively deal with Steven Taylor, ever a nuisance on the goalkeeper's toes.
Daniel Margush was impeded after 24 minutes as Graham Dorrans headed against his own crossbar from a corner and David Ball touched in the rebound.
The Wanderers were level just four minutes later, though, when Keanu Baccus' shot from the edge of the area escaped the clutches of Oliver Sail.
That goal was awarded despite the offside McGowan hopping out of the way of the attempt, but the home captain was soon obstructing team-mate Margush as Tomer Hemed powered in a close-range header.
That was the 10th headed goal Western Sydney have conceded this season, and coach Carl Robinson complained to FOX Sports at half-time: "I can't head the ball for them."
He would have been dismayed to see the Phoenix win three corners within three minutes of the restart, but the Wanderers dug in.
They responded, too, with a 19-shot second-half onslaught, only for Sail and his back line to just about hold out and protect a precious away win.
Leon Bailey's injury update emerges with surgery a possibility
Aston Villa winger Leon Bailey could be ruled out for over 10 weeks due to a hamstring injury picked up recently.
This according to injury expert Dr. Rajpal Brar, who explained the best and worst-case scenarios for the Jamaican international, as he pointed out that surgery could also be on the cards.
Manager Unai Emery was reluctant to put a timeline on Bailey’s return, and Dr. Brar, a physical therapist and sports scientist, agreed as he explained that the 27-year-old’s return will be determined based on the extent of the injury.
“His return timeline remains TBD, so that leads me to believe it’s not just a low Grade 0 or 1 injury, which would be the best-case scenario. The worst case would be a Grade 4 hamstring rupture, which means over 10 weeks out depending on if surgery is needed or not, and that possibility cannot be ruled out yet,” Dr. Brar told Villa News.
“One confounding variable with Bailey is that he’s a high-pace player, which puts more stress on the hamstrings, so you have to make sure he can handle those demands before being reintroduced,” he added.
Arsenal 1-0 Rosenborg: Maanum strike ensures Champions League progression
Frida Maanum's first-half strike ensured Arsenal progressed to the second round of Women's Champions League qualifying after a 1-0 win over Rosenborg.
Maanum netted the only goal of the game in the 19th minute after Caitlin Foord saw her cross spilled by Rugile Rulyte, with Maanum on hand to finish from close range.
The Gunners could have made the encounter more comfortable as Alessia Russo's header came back off the crossbar to conclude a dominant first half.
Arsenal struck the woodwork a further two times after the interval, through Russo and Kyra Cooney-Cross, with Leah Williamson also seeing her header cleared off the line.
But Jonas Eidevall's side were able to restrict their opponents to very little, with the hosts ending the contest with 30 shots, though only five of those were on target.
Arsenal go through to the next stage of the next stage of the competition, which is a knockout tie played across two legs.
Netherlands 5-2 Bosnia-Herzegovina: Zirkzee enjoys dream full debut
Joshua Zirkzee marked his first Netherlands start with a goal and an assist as Ronald Koeman's side kicked off their Nations League campaign with a 5-2 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The Manchester United forward opened the scoring early on at the Philips Stadion.
A quiet start to proceedings burst into life in the 13th minute as Simons' deflected effort dropped kindly for Zirkzee, who nodded the ball beyond Nikola Vasilj.
But with their second shot on target, Bosnia snatched an equaliser after Denis Huseinbasic's defence-splitting pass picked out Ermedin Demirovic, who finished smartly.
Teed up by Zirkzee, Tijjani Reijnders restored the hosts' advantage before teeing up Cody Gakpo, who maintained the goalscoring form he displayed at Euro 2024.
Bosnia provided a nervy finish to proceedings after Edin Dzeko neatly poked the ball beyond Bart Verbruggen, only for Wout Weghorst and Xavi Simons to seal the win in the closing stages.
Data Debrief: Gen Z(irkzee)
Having only held a one-goal advantage until the 88th minute, the scoreline eventually reflected the Netherlands' dominance in Eindhoven.
Koeman's side generated an expected goals (xG) total of 4.09, registering 28 shots, nine of which were on target, compared to their opponents' four and three.
Zirkzee, meanwhile, became the fourth player after Klaas Jan Huntelaar, Bas Dost and Vincent Janssen to contribute a goal and assist on their starting debut for the Netherlands.
It was also the first Netherlands game with three players representing the same non-Dutch club side (Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch and Gakpo for Liverpool) since November 2013 (Michel Vorm, Dwight Tiendalli and Jonathan de Guzman for Swansea City against China).
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
