Saturday, 15 August 2009
Melbourne Victory v Queensland Roar
Etihad Stadium, Melbourne
Local kick-off 7.30pm
Referee: Stebre Delovski
Melbourne Victory were very ordinary when they went down 2-0 to the Mariners during matchday one. The Victory likes to play on the counter attack. If you can control play maker Carlos Hernandez like the Mariners did and deny the Costa Rican space, this makes it difficult for the burger loving midfielder to find his strikers Archie Thompson and Danny Allsop. Cutting off the supply goes some way to nullifying the Victory attack. Without options the Melbourne midfield can only hoof the ball with Grant Brebner and Leigh Broxham the major culprits. The Melbourne hoofers live by that old football adage when in doubt hoof it out!
Influential elbower Kevin Muscat is out for six weeks. Mathew Kemp will go into defence while exciting Thai international Surat Suhka could make his A-League debut.
Victory Players to watch: Thai Fullback Surat Suhka. The Asian invasion of the A-league was in full swing during Matchday one adding some much needed colour to an A-League palette that was looking dull there for a while. Save for Antarctica each continent is ably represented in the A-League.
Brisbane Roar played well in patches against the Gold Coast and if they took their chances they could have got something from their first round encounter. The same old song for the Roar is that they can’t put away their chances Van Dijk getting into some good areas but failed to put any away. The defence also looked tired especially when they allowed Gold Coast midfielder Robson to sail through the middle of their defence to score Gold Coast's third goal. The Brazillian made the ex Rangers pair of Craig Moore and Charlie “I’m not fat” Miller look old and slow; which they are.
Roar Players to Watch: Left winger Michael Zullo, attacking Midfielder Mitch Nicholls and skillful Brazilian Henrique will supply balls to Indonesian Dutch Brazilian named Sergio Van Dijk. Will he miss a bundle like the first half, or will he show composed finishing that mirrored his second part of the A-League season?
Key Battles: The key battle here is the desire to counter attack vs the desire to miss a bundle of chances.
A Football Story Prediction: Victory 1-Roar 2
Melbourne Victory squad: 1.Mitchell LANGERAK (gk), 5.Surat SUHKA, 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 7.Matthew KEMP, 8.Grant BREBNER, 9.Danny ALLSOPP, 10.Archie THOMPSON, 11.NEY FABIANO, 12.Rodrigo VARGAS (c), 14.Billy CELESKI, 15.Tom PONDELJAK, 16.Carlos HERNANDEZ, 19.Evan BERGER, 20.Glen MOSS (gk), 22.Nick WARD In: 5. Surat SUHKA (promoted)
Out: 2. Kevin MUSCAT (hamstring – 4-6 weeks)
Unavailable: Nil
Brisbane Roar: 1. Liam REDDY (gk), 3. Luke DEVERE, 4. Craig MOORE (c), 5. Josh McCLOUGHAN, 6. David DODD, 7. Michael ZULLO, 9. Sergio VAN DIJK, 10. Charlie MILLER, 12. Matt MUNDY, 13. HENRIQUE, 15. Matt McKAY, 16. Bob MALCOLM, 17. Mitch NICHOLS, 18. Danny TIATTO, 20. Griffin McMASTER (rgk), 24. Robbie KRUSE. *one to be omitted
In: 6. David DODD (promoted), 12. Matt MUNDY (promoted)
Out: 2. Andrew PACKER (torn adductor 2-3 months)
Unavailable: Massimo Murdocca (fractured leg – 3-4 months)
*Head-to-Head: All matches (played 12): Melbourne Victory wins 7, Brisbane Roar wins 4 (1 draw). In Melbourne (played 6): Melbourne Victory wins 3, Brisbane Roar wins 3 (0 draws)
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