Adelaide United has claimed it won’t be leaving anything in the tank when it tackles Melbourne Victory at the Telstra Dome on Friday, despite its hectic schedule in September.
The Reds play five games in 16 days which includes home and away quarter-final legs against Japanese side the Kashima Antlers.
With such a heavy workload, and the various positives that could come from progressing further in the Champions League, the South Australian side could be excused for tinkering with its line-up against Melbourne.
But United coach Aurelio Vidmar said the club’s primary focus was on its Round 4 clash.
“There’s absolutely no talk of the ACL until Saturday morning,” he said.
“We are setting up to win the game (against Victory) and once that game has gone we’ll assess which players are healthy and which aren’t.”
That decision is set to be made at a recovery session in Sydney – the team’s last gathering in Australia before heading to Japan.
Barring a disaster, Adelaide should take a full-strength line-up into its Champions League quarter-final. The club is taking its entire squad overseas and will make assessments on its players in a ‘day by day situation’, Vidmar said.
Diego, who has recovered from a hamstring strain, will come off the bench in the game against Victory but the Reds are more cautious about Cassio’s calf strain and will play him in the Youth League.
“Coming back from injury it would be a good opportunity for him to have a little bit of game time and get a little bit of match fitness,” Vidmar said.
“Once the games start it will be all about recovery.”
Recruit Scott Jamieson jarred his knee earlier this week but is expected to play at the Telstra Dome.
Meanwhile, defender Ang Costanzo is reportedly fully fit and expecting to play in all five of his team’s games during September.
Costanzo said he and his team-mates had their sights set on the Victory.
“I’d be pretty disappointed if there were players thinking about Japan. This game is our main focus,” he said.
But he did admit the club was looking forward to the challenge of AFC quarter-finals.
“The good thing is this year is that we’ve got a big squad and if we do need to rest a few players we’ve got players that can come in and play a big role in the team as well,” he said.
“This is probably the biggest squad we’ve ever assembled … in previous years we’ve had a few younger players that haven’t been ready and have had to play and probably looked out of sorts.”
“This year the whole squad can play at any time.”
