Western United’s E-League competitors Dylan Campbell and Negede Hunegnaw both secured a safe passage through the group stages over the weekend.
Both players were seeded highly in the group stages and got off to ideal starts in their bids to bring silverware to Western United and earn themselves a place at the EA Sports FIFA 22 Global Series.
READ MORE: Western United fan Dylan Campbell set to make his mark on the E-League
As the No.1 seed, Dylan kicked off the competition in Group A on Saturday and was out to assert his dominance early in a campaign that he hopes will end with a trophy.
A Western United fan at heart, Dylan was left frustrated by a 3-3 draw in his first match against Macarthur FC’s Justin Josevski, but that result seemed to kick him into gear.
After securing a tight 1-0 win over Sesto from Western Sydney Wanderers, Dylan outlasted Central Coast Mariners’ Brady before turning up the heat in his final two matches.
After confessing he wasn’t too happy with how he had been playing, Dylan poured in 13 unanswered goals in his final two games to lay down a marker to the rest of the field, defeating competitors from Adelaide United and Perth Glory 5-0 and 8-0 respectively.
That boost to his goal difference proved crucial as he ended the group level on points with Macarthur, but his far superior goal difference meant he topped the group.
Negede followed straight after in Group B on Saturday afternoon and burst out of the blocks with a 7-1 definition of Central Coast Mariners’ second competitor.
Melbourne City’s Ryan Naylor came into the competition as the No.2 seed and was tipped to come out on top in Group B, but Negede was competitive against him in a narrow 1-0 defeat.
Negede then reversed that result in his next game against Anthony Saad from Melbourne Victory, with a win that would ultimately prove to be crucial in his bid for the Finals.
Next up was a 4-1 win against Brisbane Roar’s challenger before a 1-1 draw in the final match brought the final standings right down to goal difference.
Negede’s win over Saad proved crucial as the two ended up level on points, but Negede’s slightly better goal difference earned him second place in the group and a spot in the Finals.
The E-League Finals will begin on May 25 before the competition reaches its crescendo on May 28, with the Grand Final set to be played on the same day as the Isuzu UTE A-League Men Grand Final.
All of the action in the E-League will be streamed live on the E-League Twitch channel so fans can get behind Dylan and Negede in their bid to bring the title to the West.
