Costa Rican Marvin Angulo is set to be included in Melbourne Victory’s starting line-up for just the second time in Tuesday’s Australia Day clash against Wellington at Etihad Stadium.
Angulo has impressed in his past two appearances off the bench for the champions after initially struggling when he debuted against Newcastle in early January.
With Victory enduring three games in the space of six days, coach Ernie Merrick is set to give him another chance in the midfield.
“I think his debut was a game where no-one performed very well, but Marvin’s going to start,” said Merrick.
“He’s definitely going to come into the midfield, he’s been outstanding at training, he’s getting used to the style of play, he’s improving all around.”
“I’ll leave the decision on who he replaces until game day, but it will be one of the midfielders to freshen up the midfield.”
Merrick said the heavy schedule had him thinking of rotating the squad ahead of this match and the clash against Gold Coast on Friday.
But he has re-assessed his approach and will only make changes in the midfield.
“This is about winning every week,” he said.
“I really want to make sure we put out our best possible squad.”
“I think we will freshen up the squad in the midfield seeing they are the hardest workers, but there won-t be much of a change from the first XI.”
“They-ve all bounced back really well – the only injury we have from the weekend is Mate Dugandzic who got injured with the youth team, he got a cork in his calf.”
There will be two inclusions with Matthew Kemp and Evan Berger both expected to start on the bench after overcoming hamstring injuries.
“Apart from Billy Celeski and Surat Sukha , we’ve pretty much got everyone available,” Merrick said.
“It will be youngsters who will probably drop out – I haven-t decided which youngsters, but I’ve always favoured experienced players when you get to the business end of the season.”
The Australia Day match against Wellington will be used to assist World Vision’s appeal to raise money for the victims of the Haitian earthquake.
Patrons at the game will be asked to give a gold coin donation to the appeal while Melbourne Victory will also be making a donation.
“In the beautiful sun, enjoying Australia Day with your family, to give generously to people still caught up in this tragedy would be wonderful,” World Vision chief executive Tim Costello said.
“We are thrilled that Victory on Australia Day have said ‘we want to support Haiti’.”
