The depth, talent and balance of Adelaide United FC’s squad will be put into action tomorrow night when dashing winger Fabio Ferreira makes his starting debut as the Reds face the Hyundai A-League’s newest club, Western Sydney Wanderers.
The depth, talent and balance of Adelaide United FC-s squad will be put into action tomorrow night at Hindmarsh Stadium when dashing winger Fabio Ferreira makes his starting debut as the Reds attempt to make it two from two when they face the Hyundai A-League-s newest club, Western Sydney Wanderers.
Ferreira-s opportunity comes after Coach John Kosmina ruled Dario Vidosic out of the match after the influential midfielder left the track early complaining of hamstring tightness this morning.
Considering the Reds- heavy workload over the past fortnight with the ACL Quarter Final in Uzbekistan followed by last Sunday-s away win over the Newcastle Jets, Kosmina has decided not to risk a less than fully fit Vidosic.
“His hamstring tightened up again, the same one he-s had issues with in the past,” Kosmina said of Vidosic.
“Our physio had a look at him and thinks he probably needs an MRI scan, so from our perspective we-ve got a squad of fit and healthy players, and Dario couldn-t finish training so he won-t be playing.”
“It-s a big blow because he played really well last week and we weren-t going to make any changes in terms of the squad…we-ll just make sure he-s fit before we use him again, it-s as simple as that.”
“He played 120 minutes in Bunyodkor and 90 minutes against Newcastle last week so if there was a problem it would have shown up before then. Obviously it has shown up in the last couple of days…if you-ve got any little niggles they tend to show up later rather than sooner and unfortunately it-s too late for Dario.”
But one man-s loss is another one-s gain, and Kosmina-s preference to utilise the predominantly fit and healthy squad at his disposal sees him have no qualms injecting Ferreira into the action as he looks to utilise the Portuguese winger-s pace.
Kosmina also resisted the temptation to bring defender Iain Fyfe straight back in after suspension, declaring his is satisfied with the job Nigel Boogaard and Antony Golec did in Newcastle.
This, coupled with Sergio van Dijk another who won-t take part against the Wanderers due to only completing one full session in the lead up due to a corked calf he copped against Bunyodkor, highlights the pressure for places amongst the squad at the moment.
“He (van Dijk) couldn-t play Sunday and today is the first day he-s participated with the group, Kosmina said.
“That-s the thing about having a squad. We talked about it last week about a rotational policy and you either look at horses for courses or we look at who is fit and healthy and training well – that-s one of the good things about having a well balanced and healthy squad, but it-s also one of the down points from a coaching perspective because it-s difficult keeping blokes happy.”
Off the back of the gallant effort in Newcastle, Kosmina knows the challenge of the Reds being able to back it up at home tomorrow night.
“Yesterday-s training session was not about duration, it was more about intensity getting their head and their feet reconnected, and today I was really happy with the way that they trained,” Kosmina said.
“One of the things we were wary of and that I alluded to when we got back to Adelaide was that getting them up for Newcastle wasn-t difficult, but getting them up for this game would because of the travel and the fatigue.”
Western Sydney Wanderers may be the new kids on the Hyundai A-League block, but after taking a point against last season-s Premiers in their opening game of the season, and with a squad consisting of a host of fine players including Japanese superstar Shinji Ono, they are certain to prove an extremely tough proposition.
“They-re well organised and hopefully Ono doesn-t start because I think he-s a quality player,” Kosmina said.
“If he does start I think we can deal with it because Ozzie Malik is ready to do the job on him, but they-re a good, well disciplined, organised side and they-ve got some tidy players there as well that can hurt you.”
Hyundai A-League 2012/13 Season – Week 2
ADELAIDE UNITED FC v WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS
Friday 12 October 2012, Hindmarsh Stadium
Kick-Off: 7.00pm ACDT (7.30pm AEDT)
Referee: Brenton Hayward
Tickets: Available through Ticketek (call 132849, online at www.ticketek.com.au)
TV: Live & Exclusive on Fox Sports 1
Radio: ABC 891 Adelaide, ABC Local Radio across SA, Grandstand Digital & online
Twitter: twitter.com/adelutd_fc (hash tag #REDSvWSW)
Adelaide United Squad: 1.Eugene Galekovic (gk) (c), 2.Osama Malik, 3.Nigel Boogaard, 5.Iain Fyfe, 6.Cassio, 8.Marcelo Carrusca, 11.Bruce Djite, 12.Antony Golec, 14.Cameron Watson, 16.Daniel Bowles, 17.Iain Ramsay, 18.Fabian Barbiero, 19.Jake Barker-Daish, 21.Jeronimo Neumann, 22.Fabio Ferreira, 30.John Hall (gk)
*one to be omitted*
Ins: Iain Fyfe (returns from AFC imposed suspension), Fabian Barbiero (returns from AFC imposed suspension)
Out: Dario Vidosic (hamstring)
Unavailable: Jon McKain (knee – 1 week), Sergio van Dijk (calf – 1 week), Zenon Caravella (hip flexor – 3 weeks)
Western Sydney Wanderers squad: 1.Ante Covic (GK), 2.Shannon Cole, 3.Adam D-apuzzo, 4.Nikolai Topor-Stanley, 5.Michael Beauchamp, 6.Jerome Polenz, 7.Labinot Haliti, 8.Mateo Poljak, 9.Dino Kresinger, 10.Aaron Mooy, 11.Tarek Elrich, 12.Tahj Minniecon, 13.Joey Gibbs, 14.Kwabena Appiah-Kubi, 17.Youssouf Hersi, 18.Iacopo La Rocca, 19.Mark Bridge, 20.Jerrad Tyson (GK), 21.Shinji Ono
*four to be omitted*
Outs: Reece Caira (Young Socceroos)
Unavailable: Reece Caira (Young Socceroos), Jason Trifiro (ankle – one week)
