Seven days after representing Costa Rica against Brazil, Carlos Hernandez is set to start for Melbourne Victory in Friday night’s sell-out Hyundai A-League clash with Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium.
Leigh Broxham is also a likely starter in place of Billy Celeski who copped a corked thigh in last Saturday night’s season-opener against Sydney FC.
Victory coach Mehmet Durakovic said he would restructure his forward set up to accommodate Hernandez who became available when Costa Rica’s international friendly with Cuba, scheduled for last Tuesday, was cancelled.
Durakovic didn’t say who would make way for the 2009-10 Johnny Warren Medalist though Danny Allsopp or Archie Thompson are the likely candidates.
“Yes, I do (expect Hernandez to start),” said Durakovic after Thursday morning’s training run at Gosch’s Paddock.
“Carlos trained really well today and hopefully he should start on Friday night.”
“Billy trained today but he pulled up sore so we’ve decided to give him another week’s rest and ‘Broxy’ will come in.”
Durakovic said Adelaide will be desperate to rebound strongly from last week’s first-up 1-0 loss to Perth Glory.
“It’s always hard travelling to Perth and it’s a place where you don’t always play the way you want to play,” he said.
“It’s going to be do-or-die for them and I expect them to play really well at home.”
“We played them in the pre-season and we drew one-all, but I thought they were very well organised with experienced players.”
Durakovic said United would be stronger for the likely inclusion of former Bundesliga striker Dario Vidosic who missed the Glory clash coming off an injury-interrupted pre-season.
“He’s another one that’s come back at the peak of his career,” Durakovic said.
“He’s a classy player … but they’ve got wonderful strikers and three or four guys that can really punish you if you give them the chance.”
“They’re a really compact team, they go up as a unit, they come back as a unit.”
“It’s going to be a tough game for us.”
