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Nix training down to five players as 19 catch Covid

Phillip Rollo

Wellington Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay ran training sessions for just five players last week following a Covid-19 outbreak in the A-League Men squad while in Australia.

But after welcoming everyone back to training yesterday, he was hopeful the Phoenix had put the worst of it behind them and would have no further disruptions.

Talay revealed he had access to only a handful of players last week after 19 players contracted the virus and had to be isolated, resulting in the postponement of games against Brisbane Roar and Perth Glory.

The Phoenix have not played since beating Melbourne City on penalties in the FFA Cup quarterfinals on January 5.

‘‘We had the five boys that didn’t have it, and they were training through last week, and now we’ve had dribs and drabs of players coming out of isolation into training,’’ said Talay, who was one of the few who managed to avoid contracting Covid-19.

‘‘We’ve had to modify what they were doing in the sessions because we’ve never lived through this previously and we don’t know what will happen when they come back from Covid, so we’re mindful of trying to build them back up again.’’

The Phoenix expect to play their scheduled A-League Men game against Western United at WIN Stadium in Wollongong on and Scott Wootton could debut in the Phoenix’s next game against Western. Wootton arrived in Australia last week and linked up with his new team-mates at training on Sunday.

‘‘Scott had his first session yesterday with the group and he’s still recovering from his long journey from the UK, but we’ll slowly build him up and see how he pulls up in the next few days and see if he’s available to play on Friday.’’ Talay said goalkeeper Oli Sail (hip) and forward Oskar van Hattum (hamstring) remained sidelined with injuries.*

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2022-01-18T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-18T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282024740629040

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