Coach Frank Farina has hailed the toughness, character and strength of his squad, as the Sky Blues prepare to face Melbourne Heart at AAMI Park on Friday night.
Sydney FC Head Coach Frank Farina has hailed the toughness, character and strength of his squad, as the Sky Blues prepare to face Melbourne Heart at AAMI Park on Friday night.
Sydney FC are coming off the back of a determined performance against Melbourne Victory last weekend, winning the game 3-2 despite playing for 65 minutes with 10 men.
“We-re very happy with the attitude of all the players and the way they-re going out and putting in the hard yards,” Farina said.
“We-re a strong group and I think if we show the character we showed on the weekend we-ll be a real tough nut to crack.
“Conditioning is not an issue for us and the mentality of the players; they-re prepared to dig deep when things get tough. We-ll be very hard to beat.”
Although Melbourne Heart have found goals hard to come by, Farina is still wary of the threat the Heart carry and knows they-ll be determined to perform well in front of their home crowd.
“They-re a good side,” said Farina. “They-ve been creating chances and haven-t had a real lot of luck. They-ll be very desperate and we won-t be underestimating them.
“We understand they will come out with everything they-ve got at home and we obviously have to be on our game.”
Organisation defensively will be integral to the Sky Blues this week with Farina indicating that the game will hinge on whether Sydney can score the game-s opening goal.
“I think defensively we have to be organised,” he said. “If we can manage to score first I think it will be good for momentum particularly against sides which are struggling.
“I think that the win last week will give the squad confidence but you have to back that up with another result.
“It-s one of those competitions where anyone can beat anyone on their day.”
