Perth Glory has at least one player off its injury list with goalkeeper Tando Velaphi declaring himself right to play against the Brisbane Roar at ME Bank Stadium on Saturday.
The Glory would like to receive the same news about Jacob Burns, Victor Sikora, Chris Coyne, Mile Sterjovski and Adriano Pellegrino either ahead of this Saturday’s game or Perth’s first appearance in the Hyundai A-League finals next week.
Velaphi, 22, is one of the best young keepers Australia has to offer and has been working hard to get back to full fitness and is now just awaiting the all-clear from coach Dave Mitchell, who the club has guaranteed will coach Perth next season, to play against the Roar on Saturday.
“As far as I know yes I’ll be available. I worked pretty hard while the boys were away in Sydney, have had another good hit out on Thursday and I’m available for selection, it’s all just up to the coach now I’d say,” Velaphi said.
“While the boys have been in Sydney I was working hard with two sessions a day to try and get back in my groove as quickly as possible, so hopefully I can have a run this week to get that match fitness and head into the finals running.”
While Velaphi’s fitness is no longer a concern, he either can’t or won’t shed any light on the fitness of his fellow battling stars.
“The medical staff is obviously working really hard with them on a regular basis. I’m not entirely sure how exactly each guy is going, it’s confidentiality,” he said.
“I’d say it’s a cork (Coyne). Him and Branko (Jelic) had a little bit of a tussle, but Coyney is a pretty hard bloke and I’m sure he’ll be right for the weekend.”
Perth’s chance of finishing in fourth spot and earning a home final depends on if Central Coast can upset Wellington on Friday night, but Velaphi says that the Glory is just focusing on their match and then dealing with whatever they have to do in the finals next week.
“We will just concentrate on ourselves. You can’t really control what other teams do and as long as we win we put ourselves in the best shape possible,” he said.
“If we win and get a home final that would be great, but if we have a win a week before the finals it would be good for us also even if we did play away. We aren’t really concerned.”
Velaphi grew up in Perth supporting a successful Glory in the National Soccer League and now is pumped to be part of the first appearance in the Hyundai A-League finals, and isn’t shy to say that the club is aiming to at least make a grand final appearance.
“That would be fantastic and not since the A-League started have we been involved in the finals, so if we got a home final we’d get a bumper crowd. I used to come down here in the glory days as a young fella and there were massive crowds so it would be great to emulate that and this time be out on the field,” he said.
“We’ll be working really hard on Saturday to get a win. It’s obviously very exciting for not only the fans but ourselves as well. Over the last five weeks we’ve been playing well and we’ll go into the finals confidently and hopefully we can progress as far as the grand final, which is our aim.”
