KEY POINTS:
A lacklustre Wellington Phoenix were last night embarrassingly outplayed 6-1 by Adelaide United in their A-League soccer match at Hindmarsh Stadium.
A brace of goals apiece to Brazilian duo Cristiano and Cassio, who were given acres of space by some perfunctory Phoenix defence, destroyed any hopes Wellington had of making it four A-League wins in a row.
In contrast, United gave coach Aurelio Vidmar plenty to smile about as his team head to Japan tomorrow for the Fifa Club World Cup, where they will meet Waitakere United next Thursday.
Ahead 2-0 at halftime, Adelaide ran riot in the second spell, with the Phoenix looking increasingly disorganised on defence and anonymous on attack.
Yet the second half had started so well for the Wellington team after some well-chosen words at the break from coach Ricki Herbert.
They approached the second half with more intensity, secured possession and worked the ball well, and were finally rewarded as Fred got the final touch after a long ball in was headed back by Jon McKain 10 minutes into the spell.
However, Adelaide replied almost immediately as Brazilian striker Cristiano out-muscled Phoenix defender Manny Muscat then slipped the ball to compatriot Cassio, who unleashed a powerful drive past keeper Glen Moss, on for an injured Mark Paston.
Things went from bad to worse after 70 minutes as Cristiano threaded a long ball through to Cassio, who took just one touch before slamming the ball past Moss.
Four minutes later, Cristiano got his double after Moss blocked a Cassio strike only to see the ball fall into the path of Cristiano, who made no mistake from close range.
Skipper Travis Dodd added insult to injury well into stoppage time, slotting United's sixth goal as the Phoenix waited miserably for the final whistle.
Adelaide had started the match slowly but built pressure inexorably, and were rewarded in the 21st minute, when a long swinging ball into the box from Scott Jamieson was laid back by Brazilian midfielder Diego and the lethal right foot of Sasa Ognenovski volleyed past Paston to make it 1-0.
Paston continued to be kept busy, with the United combination down the right-hand side proving particularly effective. But it was in the box that United proved untouchable, a bullet header from beanpole defender Robbie Cornthwaite forcing an excellent reflex save from Paston with five minutes to go.
Barely a minute later, Wellington's continuing weakness from set play was ruthlessly highlighted as Cristiano was allowed to roam at will in the box, punishing some lacklustre marking as he met the ball unchallenged to head past a stranded Paston for his sixth goal of the season.
Wellington's best - and only - shot on goal came from a long range Michael Ferrante effort which beat United keeper Eugene Galekovic only to ricochet of the woodwork.
Bereft of ideas and initiative, the Phoenix may have looked a relieved team when the halftime whistle went, but it was nothing to how they looked at fulltime.
- NZPA
