The Brisbane Roar will head into their final two games of the regular season without the services of star import Jean Carlos Solorzano as he struggles with a quad strain suffered in their 2-1 win over the Melbourne Heart on Saturday.
Both Solorzano and workhorse midfielder Massimo Murdocca (quad) have been ruled out of Tuesday’s rescheduled clash with the North Queensland Fury, and only Murdocca is thought to be on track to play in Brisbane’s derby clash with the Gold Coast, which follows just five days later.
But such is the current strength of the Roar the loss of Solorzano -the A-League’s second highest goal-scorer – and the continued absence of Murdocca, has hardly caused coach Ange Postecoglou to miss a beat.
Solorzano will be ably covered by Henrique and boom rookie James Meyer – who has flourished in the A-League after starring for the Roar’s youth side all season – while the return of Matt McKay, one of the stars of the recent Asia Cup, ensures a there will be no concerns in the midfield.
“Nico (Solorzano) pulled up a bit sore with his quad against Heart, so he’ll definitely miss Tuesday and he may miss the Gold Coast, too,” said Postecoglou.
“Massimo pulled out the last game, so we’re just taking it a bit easier with him…they’re the only two injury concerns at this stage.”
“We’ve got some options there and I’m sure we’ll be able to cover the absence.”
Postecoglou also told media that McKay, man of the match in the Socceroos’ 6-0 thumping of Uzbekistan, had brought a renewed enthusiasm to training since his return, and the Roar were enjoying the boost of having their skipper back on deck.
“There may have been a danger if he had gone away and not played at all that he may have come back a little bit rusty, but the fact that he played while he was there and played well, I think worked our pretty well for us; it just gives us a bit more energy at a time when we probably need it.”
“He’s always fairly confident, but I think he’s come back with even more enthusiasm than he had before.”
“With us, he knows that it’s the critical part of the year and I’m sure he’s looking forward to that – finishing off what’s been a fantastic season for us and him personally.”
“I think it just renews his energy really. In terms of his self-belief and confidence, he always had that anyways, so it’s just a little bit more enthusiasm that we’re getting out of him.”
Requiring only a single point to seal their place as Hyundai A-League 2010-11 premiers, the Roar could be forgiven for looking to coast into the finals. But conservation isn’t in Postecoglou’s vocabulary, and the coach assured his side would be out to maintain their winning ways.
“Good form is good form and that’s what we want,” he said.
“We want to finish off strongly so that we can bring good form going into (the finals), and more importantly we want to be playing well, not just winning games. “
