Henrique has proven his fitness for Sunday’s Hyundai A-League Grand Final, but will have to be content with a place on the bench, after Ange Postecoglou confirmed that Costa Rican Jean Carlos Solorzano will retain his starting position.
Henrique, who netted the equaliser in Brisbane’s major semi-final 2-2 draw with the Mariners, was forced to make an early exit from Brisbane’s Tuesday morning practice after tweaking his quad.
At the time, Ange Postecoglou assured that the skilful Brazilian Henrique was in no doubt whatsoever, and the ‘Slippery Fish’ certainly showed no signs of discomfort in his return to the training paddock on Friday morning.
“I wasn’t telling Porkies. He could have finished the session off the other day; it was just a bit precautionary. He’s 100 percent. No problems,” said Postecoglou.
“You can’t worry about people getting injured; you’ve just got to train like you normally do.”
“The physio was quite confident he’d be fine. It settled down really well in the last couple of days and he did everything today, so he’s ready to go.”
But while Henriqu’s fitness is no longer in question, Postecoglou confirmed that he would be coming off the bench, with Solorzano holding off a strong challenge for his starting position.
Goal-shark Solorzano has long been the favoured option to spearhead the Roar offense, but after substitutes Henrique and Massimo Murdocca made a noted impact late in the second leg of the semi-final against the Mariners, Postecoglou was forced to rethink his line-up.
Henrique’s inclusion would have pushed Kosta Barbarouses into his preferred role as the central attacker, but with Solorzano retained, the Roar will hold their traditional front-line formation, with the Costa Rican flanked by Thomas Broich on the left and Barbarouses on the right.
“It looks (like Solorzano will start) unless anything unforseen happens. We’re pretty comfortable with the line-up we’ve had for the last few weeks,” said Postecoglou.
“With people like Henrique, Massimo (Murdocca) and the others on the bench, we’ve got some handy weapons to throw on. More than likely, we’ll start the same way.”
