Perth Glory coach Kenny Lowe has called on his star players to “step up” and exert their authority on Sunday’s blockbuster Elimination Final against Melbourne City.
Glory travel to AAMI Park as underdogs as it aims for its maiden Hyundai A-League championship.
“The big thing will be your big players, which players are going to stand up?” he said.
“Their big players or our big players and that’s what it really comes down. Maybe a little bit of luck, a mistake and that’s what it comes down to really at the end of the day so throw that into the melting pot and you’ve got one hell of a game”.
But the big players for Glory are in limbo with marque Diego Castro finishing Friday’s training slightly tight while speedy winger Chris Harold did not finish the training session.
“Chris came out of the session. Diego was a little bit tight at the end there. So we just got to be careful. We’ve got another session tomorrow before we fly so we’ll leave it to the last minute so I think we’ve got 18 flying over there” Lowe said
Lowe said while Harold and Castro were important to the team they weren’t the quintessential elements.
“Any good player in any team is important. At the end of the day everyone wants the good players”.
But he rejected suggestion the team could not win without Castro
“No team is a one man team as much as much as he’s a good player” Lowe said
“We’ve won without him before we’ll win without him again, if he plays great if not what are the other ten going to do? Just roll home and not turn up. It’s not gonna happen is it?” he joked.
“He’s a good guy and he knows exactly what he’s doing and how he feels and he wants to play in a final and he wants to win something just like the other 20 odd players in the squad.
“My gut feeling is he’ll do what’s right. He won’t push the envelope” said Glory’s head coach.
Lowe said the team had come together in a closer way this week and were determined to get the desired result.
“They’re looking forward to it you can see it, you can see their demeanour, you can see it in the change rooms you can see it on the training ground.
“They’re really looking forward to the game and we’ve got respect for the other side we’re gonna play, massive respect cause they’re a really really good side but you know we’ve got a quiet confidence about ourselves that we believe maybe we can go over there and do it.
Kick-off is 5PM AET) and the game will be broadcast on ABC Grandstand, Fox Sports 505 and SBS 2.
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 4.30pm (AEST), SBS TWO from 5:30pm AEST and Sky Sport 1 (New Zealand)
Radio Broadcast: Online & via the ABC Radio Mobile App – A-League Live. Crocmedia A-League Live (www.facebook.com/A-leagueLIVERadio)
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