As much as Alex Popovic loves his South Australian heritage, Sydney is definitely now “home” for the Sky Blues defender.
It’s why Popovic won’t let sentiment get in the way of his task of nullifying Adelaide United’s attack in Sunday’s A-League clash at Allianz Stadium.
“The only other A-League team I’ve played for is Adelaide, so it is great coming up against them,” the 24-year-old centre-back said.
“Everyone knows how Adelaide are. They’re very dynamic ... but as much as I loved playing for Adelaide, I’ve played for Sydney more than any other A-League team.
“Sydney’s home for me.”
Since Sydney’s appointment of coach Patrick Kisnorbo in March, Popovic has cemented his spot in heart of the Sky Blues defence, where he has formed a promising partnership with Jordan Courtney-Perkins, who also profited from Kisnorbo’s arrival.
“I love Jordy. We complement each other very well, and the more games we get under our belt, the stronger we’re going to become,” he said.
The pair were part of a Sky Blues defensive unit that kept a clean sheet in last Friday’s season-opening 0-0 Sydney derby draw.
“That’s our job. We are paid to keep the ball out of the net,” Popovic said.
He expecting a tough task in attempting to keep another A-League team scoreless on Sunday.
“They try to rain goals so it’s just about trying to limit as many of their opportunities as we can,” Popovic said.
“It’s going to be a great challenge.”
The “challenge” of breaking down Sydney’s defence also excites Reds skipper Craig Goodwin, whose team will play its opening A-League game of the new season after having last weekend off because of the club’s AFC Champions League Two commitments.
“The best thing for us is we made Asia this year, so it’s broken up the pre-season, giving us some competitive games at the start,” Goodwin said.
“No-one in the league likes how long the pre-season is, so it’s always nice when the season gets going.
“We’re used to being tagged as the underdog and flying under the radar, but internally we have high expectations for ourselves, and we want to win every game that we go out and play.
“We relish the opportunity to compete. We believe in ourselves.”
Such was the low quality of last week’s 0-0 draw between Sydney and the Wanderers, Goodwin admitted there wasn’t “a great deal” the Reds could take away from the Sky Blues’ performance “in terms of analysis”.
“We have to look at some other previous games,” he said.