The Brisbane Roar are set to regain the services of Reinaldo when they tackle Adelaide United on Friday night in an attempt to break a five-match Hyundai A-League winless streak.
Reinaldo missed his side’s 1-1 draw with Newcastle last Friday due to a hamstring strain, but Roar coach Ange Postecoglou was confident the Brazilian striker would return against the Reds.
“All the signs are good, he has trained really well these last two days,” Postecoglou said on Wednesday.
“Yesterday he probably trained within himself but today he’s moving fine.”
Reinaldo will be put through his paces when the Roar train in Adelaide on Thursday, but the 25-year-old was in doubt he would be fit for Friday night.
“It (the hamstring) is feeling very good today at training and I’m ready to play against Adelaide.”
“I have already scored some goals (against Adelaide) and I think at this moment I have to try to score again because we have to start winning games.”
Postecoglou was likewise hopeful Reinaldo would give his side a serious boost up front.
“He’ll add something for sure, last week it (the front third) was probably the area on the pitch that we struggled with a little bit.”
“Having someone like him coming back is going to help us with that.”
“They (United) are a tough nut to crack at home, but with Serg (van Dijk) and Reinaldo up front we can have a decent crack at them.”
Reinaldo’s return will be soured by the loss of young gun Tommy Oar, who departed for Indonesia on Tuesday with the Young Socceroos.
Oar has been in awesome touch on the wing and was October’s nominee for the NAB Young Footballer of the Year.
Postecoglou admitted the absence of the 17-year-old would be a blow.
“He has been good. The first two weeks I’ve been in charge, he’s been close to our most positive player.”
“But we’ve just got to cope with that.”
“You’re always going to have some issues, but we’ve made it quite clear to the players – and they accept it – that the team we have put out for the last few games has been good enough to win.”
“The team that we are going to put on Friday night will be good enough to win too, so there’ll be no excuses about missing players.”
