Adelaide United has ramped up its Asian Champions League preparations by selecting new recruit Marcos Flores for its Hyundai A-League match against Brisbane Roar at Hindmarsh Stadium on Saturday.
Reds coach Aurelio Vidmar said the Argentine, who arrived in Adelaide on January 10, would start on the bench after a couple of solid weeks of training with the side.
“He needs some game time and obviously getting closer to the Asian Champions League we need to see how he’s going to fit into our line-up and so he needs to get accustomed to how we are going to play,” Vidmar said.
“He’s progressed very well, his very last game in Chile he strained his hamstring so he was a few weeks out, so he was little de-conditioned by the time he got here. But he’s progressed very, very well.”
Vidmar said Flores could be the missing link for United, which has won just five games and scored 20 goals in its worst Hyundai A-League season.
“We’ve had a lot of occasions where we’ve got into that final third and maybe someone like Flores that final pass, and we’ve been speaking about it for a quite a while, maybe that final pass with someone like him might help us,” he said.
“It’s going to take him a little bit of time, not that we’ve got a hell of a lot of time, but he’s certainly that creative type of player who can see things a little bit quicker, put the ball in the right spots so that’s what we are hoping to get out of him.”
Defender Robbie Cornthwaite also believes Flores can have a positive influence on the side.
“From what I’ve seen of him I’ve been very impressed. He’s shows a lot of composure on the ball and probably brings that quality in the final third that Viddie has spoken about and he brings other people into the game,” he said.
“He’s very smooth on the ball and glides over the park.”
Adelaide’s other major signing, former Newcastle and Gold Coast player, Adam Griffiths will not be available to play the Roar.
Vidmar said it was frustrating Griffiths wasn’t available but was confident he’d be ready for at least the team’s opening ACL match against the Pohang Steelers on February 24.
“At this point in time his international clearance hasn’t come through so this weekend we don’t think it’s going to happen but the FFA has given us all the confidence in the world that he should be fine for the Asian Champions League,” he said.
The Reds are set to make a number of changes to the line-up which lost to Wellington last week with Mark Rudan, Cassio and Alemao a chance to return from injury while Lloyd Owusu is back after trialling with a Chinese Super League club.
With the club already indicating Flores will start on the bench and Cristiano out injured, Owusu is a good chance of slotting straight back into the starting line-up.
