Melbourne Heart captain Fred is hoping to use his experience in big games to guide his young side to victory in Perth on Sunday.
Melbourne Heart captain Fred is hoping to use his experience in big games to guide his young side to victory in Perth on Sunday.
Heart finished the regular season in sixth place on the Hyundai A-League ladder and tackle the Glory in a one-off elimination final as they try to keep their season alive for at least another week.
Fred famously provided four assists for Archie Thompson in Melbourne Victory’s 6-0 thrashing of Adelaide United in the 2007 A-League Grand Final and the Brazilian is looking for a similar performance this time around.
“Last time I set up Archie and this time I wish that it is myself (who scores),” Fred said on Monday.
“I am a little bit older now, but I will try and do my best as always.”
Fred doesn’t believe Heart will be overawed by the parochial crowd expected in Perth, given they have already performed well on the big stage during the season.
Heart defeated Glory 2-1 in Perth earlier in the season and also picked up three points in hostile environments in Brisbane and Sydney.
“It will be difficult and everyone knows finals are always difficult, but everyone is focused on what we want to do,” Fred said.
“The younger boys are more experienced now too and I think they know what they have to do.
“In finals you have to change your mindset and concentrate a bit more, but we just have to be 100 percent and try and win the game.”
And Fred said it would be foolish if his side put too much though on keeping in-form striker Shane Smeltz out of the game, given the amount of attacking threats Glory have at their disposal.
“I played with him (Smeltz) at Wellington and he is a very good player,” he said.
“So we do have to take care of him.”
“But they have a lot of good players that we have to take care of so we just have to try and do our best and not worry too much about them.”
