The return of some big name stars and belief in his side’s ability has Sydney FC coach Ante Juric confident the Sky Blues will bounce back to their Westfield W-League best against Newcastle Jets on Saturday.
In one of the shocks of the opening round last weekend, the Sky Blues lost 3-1 at home against a Katina Gorry-inspired Brisbane Roar.
But Juric is confident the result was just a minor blip and he expects a more polished performance from his side against the Jets at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday.
“The girls have been great and upbeat. We have a belief in this group we can achieve great things,” Juric said.
“We stick together as a group and games like Round 1 are ones our team can learn from to make us even better.
“The game against Roar wasn’t an ideal start, although I’m well aware you don’t win championships in Round 1.
“With this I know our team is building into a very, very good team. We had a broken pre-season with players away [with national teams] or starting late for varied reasons, so it will take a few weeks before we hit our straps.”
Among the names to return for Sydney FC this weekend include Westfield Matildas star Lisa De Vanna, and Young Matildas Ange Hristodoulou, Princess Ibini and Remy Siemsen.
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With American import Emily Sonnett also likely to come into the starting side, the Sky Blues have the arsenal to get a result against a Jets side that made a winning start in their season opener.
“It will be a tough game. Newcastle are renowned for giving their all,” Juric said.
“They’ve had a first up win so their confidence is also very high. It will be another great challenge for our girls and one we are looking forward to.
“We will approach the game how we should be approaching every game, with a belief we can perform to very high standards.
“We’ll have a will to put everything physically possible into the game and into achieving a result with a will to do everything for each other out on the field under any challenge thrown to us.
“Once you do that the football quality we have and how we want to play takes care of itself.”
