Queensland Roar will again be without the services of Tahj Minniecon after the young gun failed to recover from injury in time to be considered for Saturday night’s Preliminary Final against Adelaide United.
The recurrence of a hip flexor injury kept Minniecon sidelined for last week’s second leg of the Minor Semi-Final and while Roar coach Frank Farina was originally optimistic, he had no choice but to rule a line through the 20-year-old’s name when Minniecon failed to train on Thursday.
Minniecon’s place will again be taken by fellow Young Socceroo Isaka Cernak, with Farina nominating the return of Danny Tiatto (suspension) as the only likely change to the starting lineup.
The Roar completed a physical training session on Thursday, their final hit-out in Brisbane before a squad of 17 will depart for Adelaide on Friday.
After a brief mock match, Farina asked for the TV cameras to be switched off as his chargers took part in a simulated penalty shootout.
Farina said it was a matter of leaving no stone unturned as his side chased a maiden berth in the Asian Champions League.
“We’ve got to take everything into consideration and it could potentially come down to that, but you can never really recreate the pressure and atmosphere of a penalty shootout,” Farina said.
“But you’ve got to practice these things.”
“They (Adelaide United) know how we play, we’ve played each other three times a year so there’s not a lot of secrets out there.”
“We’ve just got to turn up with our game and concentrate on what we do well and hopefully we can produce when it matters.”
Roar captain Craig Moore was confident that Cernak would again be capable of filling the void left by Minniecon.
“Isaka has come into the team and looks as if he has been playing all season for us,” Moore said.
“That’s the good thing now within our squad, unfortunately you do get injuries and suspensions, and the players that have come in have known exactly what their jobs are, they’ve looked quite good.”
“This week has gone really well, the gaffer (Farina) has been on top of things and made sure we’re doing what is required.”
“I feel that if we go about our business in the right manner, the job will take care of itself.”
Farina was coy when it came to talk of the saga engulfing the Reds following Aurelio Vidmar’s post-match comments where he blamed his side’s 4-0 loss to Melbourne on ‘politics’ and infamously labeled Adelaide a ‘piss-ant’ town.
The former Socceroos boss believed the drama could work one of two ways, but was expecting the South Australian side to bounce back to their best after being humbled by the Victory.
“I don’t know the atmosphere down there, or the feeling within the team and city, I hate to comment on things I don’t know too much about, so I won’t comment on that,” Farina said.
“I don’t think that all that has gone on will affect them in a negative way, put it that way.”
