Sydney FC skipper Steve Corica has declared himself a certain starter ahead of Sunday’s crucial clash against the unpredictable Newcastle Jets.
Corica has not played since limping from the field with a minor hamstring strain midway through the first half of his side’s 1-0 loss to Gold Coast United three weeks ago.
The 36-year-old was sorely missed throughout Sunday’s disappointing 2-0 defeat at the hands of Perth Glory, as the Sky Blues tumbled out of top spot on the A-League ladder.
“I trained yesterday with the team so first day back everything went all right so, providing next couple of days are okay I’m sure I’ll be on the team sheet,” Corica said on Friday.
“I wanted to be pretty much back for the Perth game but it was a very long trip for the boys over there and the staff and the coaches thought it’d be best to have an extra week training, so we’ve done that and hopefully it’ll be all right.”
“I’ve only trained a couple of times obviously I’ve been working hard by myself on my fitness so I feel pretty good and hopefully I get a decent amount of time (on the pitch).”
Coach Vitezslav Lavicka welcomed the return of the wily veteran.
“Stevie’s an important part of our squad, our team,” Lavicka said.
“He’s not young and not fast but very clever and a very smart player – we need him.”
A typically coy Lavicka would not divulge his starting line-up but revealed he would make at least two changes to the side that lost to Perth.
Midfielder Karol Kisel is almost certain to miss the match with a groin strain allowing Terry McFlynn, who played more of an attacking role in Corica’s absence, to partner Stuart Musialik in the midfield.
Corica, meanwhile, will resume his customary position in behind the strikers.
“Karol Kisel is not 100 percent, we’ll see but in this moment I can’t say he will be ready for Sunday’s game,” Lavicka said.
“We are happy that Stevie Corica is ready to play … and I think about maybe one (more) change to the starting line-up as well.”
While it is unclear who will be the second man to drop out of the starting side, it appears likely Shannon Cole will return at right fullback in an attempt to add greater attacking thrust from the defensive line.
“In Perth we had a problem in support from defenders (in the) attacking part (of the game),” Lavicka said.
“We need to improve and be more aggressive in the middle third as well, and more effective because we didn’t score in the last two games.”
Meanwhile, Corica insists complacency won’t be a factor against the lowly-ranked Jets but says fixing deficiencies in Sydney’s game has been the main focus at training this week.
“In this league anyone can beat anyone so we’ve got to be very careful of Newcastle, they’re down the bottom but they’re still a very good team so we’ll have to be very careful on Sunday,” Corica said.
“More importantly we’ve got to look at our game. We’ve had two losses on the trot away from home so we obviously need to pick up our form.”
“We’ve got decent form at home and I think obviously we need three points and to get back to winning ways.”
