Adelaide United FC goes into Sunday’s huge test against Brisbane Roar quietly confident it can tame the Hyundai A-League’s benchmark team of the past two seasons.
Adelaide United FC goes into Sunday’s huge test against Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium quietly confident it can tame the Hyundai A-League-s benchmark team of the past two seasons.
Nine points out of a possible 12 from the opening four games has the mood upbeat around the Reds camp and believing they can weather the expected storm from a Brisbane outfit looking to make amends after a shock rare home defeat to Western Sydney Wanderers last weekend.
The Roar have proved a bogey side for the Reds of late, one having to go back to February 2010 for the last time United tasted success against the team from the Queensland capital.
It may be a long time between drinks but Reds Coach John Kosmina believes his current crop of players, who have helped get Adelaide United to sit on top of the table, are more than capable of breaking the drought and coming back with three points.
“We-re going into it quite confident. Provided we do the simple things and do them well, then I don-t have a problem playing Brisbane,” Kosmina said.
“We know they-re a good team, we know what their strengths are, we know what they do and what their players are capable of as individuals as well…you can-t got there cocky but you-ve got to go there confident and we are.”
On whether he is expecting to be forced on the back foot early from the home side, Kosmina said while it was important to be strong defensively, the Reds are not going there to simply just sit back and absorb pressure for 90 minutes.
A beautifully worked Iain Ramsay goal in a 1-1 draw the last time the teams met at Suncorp proved the Reds can produce their own open, threatening style of football at the venue, and the array of options at Kosmina-s disposal in the front third of the pitch tomorrow suggests they are definitely in with a chance.
“I want to try and play and I want to try and get forward and be creative in attack…we-re a little bit unstructured because of the types of players that we-ve got but we-re probably more creative than we are structured,” Kosmina said.
“It-s always good to test yourself against the best, and at the moment they (Brisbane) are the incumbent champions and it will be a good yardstick probably more for them than it will be for us…how we-re travelling at the moment I-m happy with, Brisbane will be another test just like Perth will be next week or Melbourne Heart the week after that.”
Plaudits have come with the Reds- positive start to Season 8, but Kosmina rejects claims of there being any added pressure or being the hunted only a month into the campaign.
“It-s too early to think about pressure. It-s nice to be there (on top) so you enjoy it while you can but from an honest perspective we-ve only played four games,” Kosmina said.
“If we-re still top with four games to go then there may be a little bit more pressure, but at the moment it-s just about playing.”
Kick-Off is at 4.30pm ACDT.
Hyundai A-League 2012/13 Season – Week 5
BRISBANE ROAR v ADELAIDE UNITED FC
Sunday 4 November 2012, Suncorp Stadium
Kick-Off: 4.00pm AEST (4.30pm ACDT)
Referee: Chris Beath
TV: Live & Exclusive on Fox Sports 1
Radio: ABC 891 Adelaide, Grandstand Digital & online
Twitter: twitter.com/adelutd_fc (hash tag #ROARvREDS)
Adelaide United squad: 1.Eugene Galekovic (gk) (c), 2.Osama Malik, 3.Nigel Boogaard, 5.Iain Fyfe, 6.Cassio, 8.Marcelo Carrusca, 9.Sergio van Dijk, 10.Dario Vidosic, 11.Bruce Djite, 12.Antony Golec, 14.Cameron Watson, 16.Daniel Bowles, 17.Iain Ramsay, 21.Jeronimo Neumann, 22.Fabio Ferreira, 30.John Hall (gk)
*one to be omitted*
Ins: Nigel Boogaard (promoted), Jake Barker-Daish (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: Jon McKain (leg – to be reviewed), Paul Izzo (gk) (international duty)
Brisbane Roar squad: 1.Michael Theo (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.Ben Halloran, 13.Yuji Takahashi, 14.Rocky Visonte, 16.Do Dong-Hyun, 17.Mitch Nichols, 18.Luke Brattan, 19.Jack Hingert, 20.Matt Acton (gk), 22.Thomas Broich, 24.Nick Fitzgerald
*four to be omitted*
Ins: Rocky Visconte (promoted), Do Dong-Hyun (promoted), Nick Fitzgerald (promoted), Ivan Franjic (returns from injury)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: Nil
