Sydney FC head coach Ufuk Talay says star wingers Joe Lolley and Douglas Costa could recover from their respective injuries in time for next week’s AFC Champions League Two clash with Sanfrecce Hiroshima on November 7.
Costa missed Sydney’s trip to face Auckland FC in Round 2 of the Isuzu UTE A-League season due to a hamstring injury suffered against Sanfrecce in the ACL Two last week but the Brazilian has been cleared of serious injury by the Sky Blues head coach – as has Lolley, who limped off with a groin injury just 35 minutes into Sunday’s loss to Auckland at Go Media Stadium.
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Speaking ahead of Sydney’s trip to Suncorp Stadium to take on Brisbane Roar on Friday night, Talay confirmed both players will be in the mix to feature against J1 League leaders Sanfrecce in midweek and if not, will target a home clash with Macarthur Bulls on Sunday, November 10 to return to action.
“Joe is actually not too bad at all,” Talay said.
“Hopefully he’ll be available for the Hiroshima game, if not then the Macarthur game. So that’s good news on that end.
“With Douglas, we’re taking it week by week. There might be a possibility he might be available for either game as well in that sense.
“They’ll miss this game, that’s definite but moving forward I think we’re in a good place… the great thing is they’re not going to be out for a long period of time. I think it’s great for the group, it’s also great for them.”
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It’s not good news for young midfielder Corey Hollman, however. His ankle injury suffered in the second half of Sydney’s 1-0 loss to Auckland is set to keep him sidelined for more than a month.
“Corey rolled his ankle, so I think he’s four to six weeks at the moment with Corey which is disappointing for him,” Talay said.
“At the end of the day, it’s the nature of the game, there are injuries – especially when you play three games in eight days.”
Against Auckland, the injured Lolley was replaced by Patrick Wood but the return of Max Burgess from suspension provides Talay another option to consider when selecting his starting XI.
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Young winger Adrian Segecic, Jaiden Kucharski, Mitchell Glasson and Nathan Amanatidis are other attacking options at Talay’s disposal, while young midfielders Tiago Quintal and Marin France have also been added to the extended squad.
With three key first-team members injured, Talay has set the challenge to those within his squad pursuing more match minutes to impress in the absence of Lolley, Costa and Hollman.
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“It’s always an opportunity,” he said. “I think I’m pretty fair with my players, I think I was fairly consistent even last season. When players do well, they retain their position within the team.
“A great opportunity – you don’t want injuries to happen, but when it does happen it opens up the door for other players to come in and cement their spot.
“It’s hard at this stage, we don’t have the NPL season up and running as well, if they don’t play with us they don’t really get game time anywhere else. Like I said, opportunities arise with injuries happening.”
Sydney travel to Suncorp Stadium to take on a Roar outfit itching to go after a Round 1 defeat to Auckland which preceded a bye in Round 2.
The Roar have fitness concerns of their own, with Ecuador international Neicer Acosta set to miss Round 3 due to a “small injury,” head coach Ruben Zadkovich confirmed on Thursday afternoon. Scott Neville and Marcus Ferkranus will also miss against Sydney, although Zadkovich has regained Corey Brown and Quinn MacNicol for the Friday-night clash.
Just like last season, Brisbane welcome Sydney to Suncorp Stadium in their second game of the campaign. Brisbane beat the Sky Blues 3-0 on that occasion and Zadkovich will hope to replicate that performance in the Round 3 opener against a side he has labelled as title favourites.
“We’re focusing on ourselves,” he said. “We also do a very diligent analysis on the opposition.
“Let’s not hide behind it: they’re a quality team. They’re favourites to win the comp, and with good reason: because of the attacking weapons they have.
“We have to be at our best collectively to defend those key players. But i’M confident we can do that. We’ll embrace that underdog tag; it’s up to us against the big marquee club in Australian football.
“It’s a brilliant opportunity and something I know, (with) my boys having a bye last weekend, they were itching to try and rectify some of those things we didn’t quite execute (against Auckland).
“The mentality and the positivity in my group and the energy at the moment is really high, that indicates a strong performance from us on Friday.”
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