Melbourne City head coach Michael Matricciani explained Lourdes Bosch’s absence from Saturday’s Ninja A-League Semi-Final first leg, while he also provided an update on stars Holly McNamara and Mariana Speckmaier.
The American star missed the game due to “soreness”, with City adding she will be reassessed ahead of the second leg in Melbourne on May 10.
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Golden Boot winner and CommBank Matildas attacker McNamara started on the bench following a “niggle in tracking” before the Australia international came off the bench in the 66th minute.
After the matchup at Industree Group Stadium, Matricciani was asked about the duo while he revealed Speckmaier will return for the second leg having missed almost two months due to an ankle injury.
“Lourdes has been struggling with a bit of a back injury for the last week and a half,” he told Network 10 post-game.
“She hasn’t been able to shrug it. We probably could’ve pushed her but we decided with the travel, it’s probably best to give her a couple of days rest and make sure she trains fully next week.
“Holly sort of felt on Tuesday a bit of a knock. We got the scan, all clear so we didn’t want to quite risk her for a full start.
“But she played that 25-30 minutes of the bench which was pleasing. She got through it well so she will be ready next week.
“Even we’ve forgotten about Speckmaier as well. She’s been out for five-six weeks, maybe six or seven weeks now. She will be ready for next week too.”
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