Sydney FC coach John Kosmina has scoffed at suggestions his side will happily settle for a draw when they meet arch-rivals Melbourne Victory at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday night.
Sydney FC coach John Kosmina has scoffed at suggestions his side will happily settle for a draw when they meet arch-rivals Melbourne Victory at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday night.
Injury and suspension has forced Kosmina’s hand with no less than four players – Chris Payne, Ryan Walsh, Shannon Cole and Robbie Mileski – set to make their Hyundai A-League debuts against Ernie Merrick’s men.
But despite a far from perfect preparation for the season opener, Kosmina has every confidence his depleted line-up is capable of emerging with maximum points.
“We’re not going to come here and try and kill the game off at all, we want to play some decent football and I think these guys are good enough to do it,” Kosmina declared.
“Look at Steve Corica, I think he’s fitter now than he has been for a number of years and I think you’ll see a great season out of Stevie.”
“Terry McFlynn, Simon Colosimo, Iain Fyfe, Clint Bolton, Adam Casey … we’ve got players that have been around, they’re not new to the game if you know what I mean.”
“So I’m quite comfortable that we can get a result.”
Meanwhile, Kosmina is yet to make a decision on whether to call upon returning Olyroos striker Mark Bridge for the match, but ruled out using midfielder Stuart Musialik after a heavy workload in Beijing.
“Stuart Musialik won’t be used in the game, it would have been game four in nine days and it’s too big an ask,” Kosmina said.
“I’ll probably look at using Bridgey off the bench but I’ll see how he feels – it’ll become his decision.”
“I’ll have a chat with him (Bridge) when he comes in this afternoon, he said to me yesterday he felt ok but he did cramp up during the game (against Ivory Coast) and they’ve had a long flight as well.”
“And he hasn’t been able to have time for a recovery so we’ll see how he pulls up – he’s a possibility.”
