Adelaide United coach, Josep Gombau, has said although there is a short time to prepare for Tuesday night’s Westfield FFA Cup clash with Sydney FC, his squad will be ready for the match.
The Reds will face fellow Hyundai A-League club Sydney FC in a do-or-die quarterfinal only four days after their second round game against rivals Melbourne Victory at Adelaide Oval.
But the short turn around is of little concern to manager, Josep Gombau, who said that whilst having more time to prepare would have been beneficial, fixtures cannot be changed and his side will be in good condition for the clash.
“Of course it’s better to have more time, but this is what we have,” Gombau said.
“Okay, we played on Friday, Saturday we had off, yesterday we had a public (training) session, today we prepare for the game, and tomorrow night I think we’ll arrive in a good condition.
Despite potentially using the fixture to field players who are in need of match-fitness after coming back from injury, the FFA Cup and A-League are as important as each other, wanting to be equally successful in both competitions.
“Everybody is ready. After we might decide to change the starting XI because we also want the players who are (coming back from injury) to have some minutes, but it’s something we will decide (on Tuesday).”
“We need to win every single game. Every time we (wear our uniform) with the Adelaide United logo we need to go at 120 per cent to try and win.
“We have fans who we need to make proud. Priority will be to win on Tuesday, and of course on Sunday, here at Coopers (Stadium).”
Reflecting on the match against Melbourne Victory, United defender Tarek Elrich said he and his teammates have recovered well, but all focus is now on Sydney.
“I think we had some good chances to take the game (from Victory), but saying that, these things happen (in football),” Elrich said.
“We were gutted that in front of our great crowd we couldn’t get the win, but we’ll build on it.
“Sydney is another team who everyone is tipping to be ‘up there’ at the end of the season, so for us we’re looking forward to the challenge.
“As a player, there is nothing better than winning tournaments, and Josep has drilled into us from the beginning of the FFA Cup that we’re to take it as seriously as the league and so this game (against Sydney) will be just as important as anything.
Westfield FFA Cup Quarter Finals – Week 2 Fixture
Tuesday, 21 October 2014
Sydney FC v Adelaide United
Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Kick-off: 7.30pm AEDT (7:00pm ACDT)
Referee: Ben Williams
Assistant Referee 1: Sarah Ho
Assistant Referee 2: Owen Goldrick
Fourth Official: Andrej Giev
AAR 1: Stephen Lucas
AAR 2: Kris Griffiths-Jones
TV broadcast: LIVE and exclusive on FOX SPORTS 2 and 2HD
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #SYDvADL
Sydney FC squad: 1.Ivan NECEVSKI (GK), 2.Sebastian RYALL, 3.Sasa OGNENOVSKI, 4.Pedj BOJIC, 5.Matthew JURMAN, 6.Nikola PETKOVIC, 7.Corey GAMEIRO, 8.Milos DIMITRIJEVIC, 11.Bernie IBINI, 12.Hagi GLIGOR, 13.Christopher NAUMOFF 14.Alex BROSQUE (c), 16.Alex GERSBACH, 17.Terry ANTONIS, 19.Nick CARLE, 20.Vedran JANJETOVIC (GK), 21.Mark JANKO, 22.Ali ABBAS
***two to be omitted***
Adelaide United squad: 1.Eugene GALKOVIC (GK) (c), 2. Michael MARRONE, 3.Nigel BOOGAARD, 4.Dylan McGOWAN, 5.Osama MALIK, 7.Pablo SÁNCHEZ, 8.ISAÍAS, 9.Sergio CIRIO, 10.Marcelo CARRUSCA, 11.Bruce DJITE, 13.Dylan SMITH, 17.Awer MABIL, 18.Jimmy JEGGO, 20.Paul IZZO, 21.Tarek ELRICH, 22.Fabio FERREIRA
