Brisbane Roar are likely to be without two members of their regular starting line-up in tomorrow night’s clash tomorrow night as second and third place on the Hyundai A-League table go head to head at nib Stadium.
Brisbane Roar are likely to be without two members of their regular starting line-up in tomorrow night-s clash tomorrow night as second and third place on the Hyundai A-League table go head to head at nib Stadium.
Midfield maestro Thomas Broich has been ruled out of the round 21 fixture after failing to recover from a shoulder injury sustained in last weekend-s win over Melbourne Victory while the involvement of Massimo Murdocca is uncertain with pregnant wife Michelle due to give birth at any moment.
Head Coach Ange Postecoglou was unfazed by Broich-s exclusion, stressing the importance of only travelling with players capable of performing to their best as the end of the domestic competition and the beginning of the AFC Champions League campaign looms closer.
“He-s got a bad shoulder, he struggled through training yesterday and was hardly convincing,” Postecoglou said of Broich.
“It-s going to be a tough game over there so we need everyone fully fit and raring to go so we-ll leave him home this weekend.”
The verdict on Murdocca-s involvement has been left up to the player by Postecoglou, who cited that family comes before football at times like these.
The bulk of the Roar squad will depart Brisbane Airport this afternoon bound for Perth with the 27-year-old booked on flights to Western Australia late tonight and early tomorrow morning to accommodate for the birth of his first child.
“I haven-t heard anything yet but the most important thing is that everything goes well with the child and Massimo-s wife and that they-re all happy and comfortable,” Postecoglou said.
“We-re planning without him, we-re planning with him and we-ll just see how it goes over the next 24 hours.
“It-s Massimo-s call at the end of the day and I-d be happy either way.”
The absence of the midfield duo is eased by the return of Qantas Olyroos Matt Jurman and Rocky Visconte who have completed their three-week international duty stint in the Middle East and travelled directly to Perth, arriving in the early hours of this morning.
With the corresponding National Youth League fixture between the two sides to take place the following morning, Postecoglou will have the full depth of players – barring Broich – to choose from for his 15-player match day squad.
Saturday, 25 February 2012
Perth Glory v Brisbane Roar
Venue: nib Stadium
Local kick-off: 6:45pm (9.45pm AEDT)
TV broadcast: Fox Sport 1
Referees: Strebre Delovski / Paul Cetrangolo / Matthew Cheeseman / Trent Fleskens
Head-to-Head: All matches (played 20): Perth Glory wins 3, Brisbane Roar wins 12 (5 draws)
Perth Glory Squad: 1.Danny Vukovic (Gk), 2.Josh Mitchell, 3.Bas Van Den Brink, 4.Billy Mehmet, 5.Steve Pantelidis, 7.Jacob Burns (C) 8.Adam Hughes, 9.Shane Smeltz, 10.Liam Miller, 13.Travis Dodd, 14.Steven McGarry, 15.Tommy Amphlett, 17.Todd Howarth, 19. Josh Risdon, 20. Neil Young, 21.Mile Sterjovski, 27.Andrezinho 35. Dean Heffernan *three to be omitted*
In: 2.Josh Mitchell (Returns From Injury), 9.Shane Smeltz (Returns From Injury) 15.Tommy Amphlett (Promoted)
Out: Nil
Unavailable: 6.Chris Coyne (Achilles), 11.Victor Sikora (Hip – Long Term Injury List), 16.Evan Berger (Hamstring)
Brisbane Roar Squad: 1. Michael Theoklitos (GK), 2. Matt Smith (C), 3. Shane Stefanutto, 4. Matt Jurman , 5. Ivan Franjic, 6. Erik Paartalu, 7. Besart Berisha, 8. Massimo Murdocca, 10. Henrique, 11. Issey Nakajima-Farran, 12. Matt Mundy, 14. Rocky Visconte, 16. Mohamed Adnan, 17. Mitch Nichols, 19. Jack Hingert, 20. Andrew Redmayne (GK), 21. James Meyer, 24. Nick Fitzgerald *three to be omitted*
In: Nil
Out: Nil
Unavailable: 22. Thomas Broich (shoulder)
