Australia NewsPreview: Perth Glory v Melbourne Victory |
Date: Saturday July 26
Kick-off: 6:30pm local
Venue: Members Equity Stadium, Perth
Head-to-headNine A-League meetings: Melbourne - 3 wins, Perth - 2 wins, 4 draws
Four Pre-Season Cup meetings: Melbourne - 2 wins, Perth - 1 win, 1 Draw
Previous meeting
Perth Glory 3, Melbourne Victory 1, Members Equity Stadium, Round 15, December 2007
Pre-season Cup Results
Perth:
Round 1: Perth Glory 1, Newcastle Jets 1, Hyundai stadium, Mandurah, Saturday July 19
Melbourne:
Round 1: Melbourne Victory 1, Adelaide United 2, Aurora Stadium, Sunday July 20
Previous Pre-season Cup Results
Perth:
2007: Runners-up (Lost to Adelaide 2-1 in final)
2006: Sixth (Lost to Melbourne 1-0 in fifth-place playoff)
2005: Semi-finals (Lost to Central Coast 1-0 in final)
Melbourne:
2007: Eighth (Lost to Sydney 1-0 in seventh-place playoff)
2006: Fifth (Defeated Perth 1-0 in fifth-place playoff)
2005: Semi-finals (Lost to Central Coast 3-1)
Analysis
Melbourne's last-minute defeat to Adelaide has put pressure on both teams to get a result this week. Only the top team from each group gets through to the final, and with the Reds on three points, Mariners and Glory on one, and Victory on zero, anything but a win in this match could end both teams' hopes of making the decider.
Glory looked good in patches in the opening match against the Jets, but couldn't hold on to the 12th minute lead given to them by recruit Adrian Trinidad, with Noel Spencer equalising before half-time.
Coach David Mitchell was impressed with Trinidad's performance, especially considering Jamie Harnwell (shoulder) and Eugene Dadi (hamstring) were missing. Eugene Dadi will make his debut this week, while Nick Rizzo returns. Frank Juric will make his Glory debut in goal. Amaral is still awaiting a visa.
Melbourne were left with a bitter taste in the mouth after dominating the chances in the second half against Adelaide only to be stung by a sucker punch from Cristiano. New boys Ney Fabiano and Michael Thwaite performed well on debut at either end of the park, with the Brazilian scoring an eighth-minute goal and then hitting the crossbar with a late header. Thwaite looked very strong, while the other player to impress was wing-back Evan Berger, who made the most of his first start.
While Ernie Merrick wasn't pleased with the result, he was happy enough with what he saw, especially considering he had eight players either injured or unavailable for that match. Costa Rican duo Jose Luis Lopez and Carlos Hernandez are both chances to play in Perth, with the former arriving to his new club on Monday, while the latter continues to make strong progress from a quad injury.
Perth Glory Squad
1.Jason PETKOVIC (gk), 3.David TARKA, 4.Jamie COYNE, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 7.Nick RIZZO, 8.James ROBINSON, 9.Adrian TRINIDAD, 14.Eugene DADI, 15.Hayden DOYLE, 16.Adriano PELLEGRINO, 17.James DOWNEY, 18.Hayden FOXE, 19.Naum SEKULOVSKI, 20.Frank JURIC (gk), 21.Mark LEE.
In: 7.Nick RIZZO (return from injury), 14.Eugene DADI (return from injury).
Out: N/A
Unavailable: 2.Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY (Olyroos duty), 5.Jamie HARNWELL (hip – 3 weeks), 10.AMARAL (Awaiting Visa), 12.Josip MAGDIC (ankle – 1 week), 13.Nikita RUKAVYTSYA (Olyroos duty), 30.Tando VELAPHI (Olyroos duty)
Melbourne Victory
1.Michael THEOKLITOS (gk), 3.Michael THWAITE, 4.Steven PACE, 5.Sebastian RYALL, 6.Steve PANTELIDIS, 7.Matthew KEMP, 9.Danny ALLSOPP, 11.NEY FABIANO, 12.Rodrigo VARGAS, 13.Nathan ELASI, 15.Tom PONDELJAK, 16.Carlos HERNANDEZ, 17.Jose Luis LOPEZ, 19.Evan BERGER, 20.Mitchell LANGERAK (gk), 22.Nick WARD *One to be omitted
In: 16.Carlos HERNANDEZ (return from injury), 17.Jose Luis LOPEZ (promoted)
Out: Semir SIVIC (on trial)
Unavailable: Kevin MUSCAT (hamstring – 1 week), Grant BREBNER (groin - indefinite), Archie THOMPSON (Olyroos duty), Billy CELESKI (Olyroos duty), Leigh BROXHAM (Olyroos duty), Daniel VASILEVSKI (hip – 5 weeks)
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