The mathematics are simple for both teams, who need to win this match and hope for Gamba Osaka to lose to Tianjin Teda to get through.
Kick-off: 8:30pm AEST
Venue: Jeju World Cup Stadium
Television: Live and exclusive on Fox Sports 2
Head-to-head
Played 1, Wins: Jeju United 1
History
These teams have already met once this campaign with Jeju United getting a 2-1 win at Melbourne’s Docklands Stadium in March, shortly after Victory had replaced former coach Ernie Merrick. Victory took an early lead through Danny Allsopp before Jeju equalised just on half-time through Hyun-Beom Park. Hyun Ho-Lee then scored the winner six minutes from time.
Past five matches:
Jeju United:
KL: Jeju United 3, Daegu, 0, Jeju
ACL: Tianjin Teda 3, Jeju United 0, Tianjin
KL: Seoul 2, Jeju United 1, Seoul
KL: Jeju United 2, Seongnam 1, Jeju
ACL: Gamba Osaka 3, Jeju United 1, Expo 70 Stadium
Melbourne Victory:
ACL: Melbourne Victory 1, Gamba Osaka 1, Docklands
ACL: Melbourne Victory 2, Tianjin Teda 1, Docklands
ACL: Tianjin Teda 1, Melbourne Victory 1, Tianjin
ACL: Melbourne Victory 1, Jeju United 2, Docklands
ACL: Gamba Osaka 5, Melbourne Victory 1, Osaka
Selection
Melbourne have lost the impressive Isaka Cernak through suspension for this match, while Tom Pondeljak and Marvin Angulo have both succumbed to illness and haven’t travelled. It means yet another shuffle up for Melbourne, who have Robbie Kruse available and likely to replace Cernak, while Surat Sukha and Grant Brebner are also available.
Jeju United were rocked by the sudden illness of young striker Shin Young-Rok, who collapsed into a coma during last weekend’s 3-0 win over Daegu in the K-League. He has scored twice in the ACL this campaign and will be missed.
Danger Men
Robbie Kruse – Injury and suspension have limited Kruse’s contribution this campaign, but he is ready to make a big impact in this match.
Santos – Jeju’s Brazilian striker has only played a bit part role so far in the ACL, but his three goals in the K-League this season shows he could be a very useful player in the absence of Shin.
At the end of the day
The mathematics are simple for both teams, who need to win this match and hope for Gamba Osaka to lose to Tianjin Teda to get through. That match kicks off 30 mins prior to this one, so the message will get out to the players in the final 30 minutes what their prospects are of getting through.
Given the cut-throat nature of the contest, you can expect plenty of attacking football, especially from Melbourne with their first choice attacking force of Kruse, Thompson, Hernandez and Allsopp available.
Melbourne have improved with every game this campaign and should have got all three points against Gamba Osaka last week. Conversely, Jeju have struggled, losing their last two by decent margins.
With that in mind, you can see Victory getting the three points needed to stay in contention, but Gamba Osaka’s strong home record may mean that it will all be in vain.
Squads
Jeju United:
1. Kim Ho-Jun, 2. Park Jin-Ok, 3. Kang Min-Hyuk, 4. Kim In-Ho, 5. Park Hyun-Beom, 6. Choi Won-Kwon, 7. Kim Young-Sin, 8. Oh Seung-Bum, 9. Kang Su-Il, 10. Shin Young-Rok, 11 Jair, 13. Ma Chul-Jun, 14. Kim Tae-Min, 15. Hong Jung-Ho, 16. Bae Ki-Jong, 17. Kim Jun-Yub, 18. Kim Eun-Jung (captain), 19. Jeon Tae-Hyun, 20. Oh Ban-Suk, 21. Han Dong-Jin, 22. Lee Hyun-Ho, 23. Han Jae-Man, 24. Jung Da-Seul, 25. Kang Joon-Woo, 26. Yun Won-Il, 27. Cho Won-Kwang, 28. Felipinho, 29. Lee Sang-Hyup, 30. Bae Il-Hwan, 31. Lee Jin-Hyung, 32. Lee Keun-Won, 33. An Jong-Hun, 34. Kang In-Jun, 35. Kwon Yong-Nam, 36. Kang Min-Seong, 37. Shim Young-Sung, 38. Lee Yoon-Ho, 39. Santos, 41. Yoo Uk-Jin, 42. Hyun Kwang-Woo, 43. Moon Min-Kwi
Melbourne Victory:
1. Michael Petkovic (GK), 2. Kevin Muscat, 4. Petar Franjic, 5. Surat Sukha, 6. Leigh Broxham, 7. Matthew Kemp, 8. Grant Brebner, 10. Archie Thompson, 11. Marvin Angulo, 12. Rody Vargas, 13. Diogo Ferreira, 14 Billy Celeski, 15. Tom Pondeljak, 16. Carlos Hernandez, 17. Matthew Foschini, 18. Danny Allsopp, 19. Isaka Cernak, 20. Sebastian Mattei (GK), 21. Robbie Kruse, 23. Adrian Leijer, 24. Luke Pilkington, 25. Luke O’Dea, 26. Nick Ansell, 27. James Jeggo, 30. Tando Velaphi (GK)
