Richard Garcia has urged his squad to focus on the game rather than the situation as they prepare for Wednesday’s must-win clash with Brisbane Roar at Moreton Daily Stadium (kick-off at 5.05pm WST).
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Three points are essential if Glory are to go into Saturday’s final fixture of the regular season against Newcastle Jets with a chance of making the Finals for a third successive season, but they will face a Roar side who also need a win to lock in a top-six finish.
With so much at stake, Garcia is looking to ensure that his players ignore the bigger picture and concentrate solely upon the job at hand.
“It’s about us focusing upon this first game and worrying about what we do, not what other teams are doing or what the situation is within the league,” he said.
“We have to just focus on that 90 or 95 minutes of football and make sure that we do our best to get the three points.
“It was a tough performance against Wellington on Sunday and they [Brisbane] had a game on Sunday as well, so it should be an interesting game with both teams having to back up on Wednesday.”
Garcia went on to confirm that no fresh injury concerns emerged from Sunday’s dramatic 2-2 draw with Phoenix in Auckland.
“Everyone is travelling ok,” he said.
“They’ve recovered pretty well and we’ll have a light hit-out today [Tuesday] which will get their bodies right for the game.
“You can tell with the boys that they’re hungry and are really keen to get out there and produce the goods.”
Roar, meanwhile, currently occupy sixth spot and require three points to ensure a Finals berth and potentially even a third-place finish should they also beat Sydney FC at the weekend and results elsewhere go their way.
Warren Moon’s men will head into the game in indifferent form, however, having won three, lost three and drawn two of their last eight games.
Notable absentees for the hosts on Wednesday evening will include defensive duo Tom Aldred and Jack Hingert who are both ruled out by hamstring injuries.
Match Details
Wednesday, 2 June 2021
Brisbane Roar FC v Perth Glory
Moreton Daily Stadium (Redcliffe)
Kick-Off: 5:05pm (WST)(7:05pm (Local))
Referee: Chris Beath
Assistant Referee 1: Ashley Beecham
Assistant Referee 2: Anton Shchetinin
Fourth Official: Adam Kersey
VAR: Alex King
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 7:00pm (AEST), Sky Sport 7 (New Zealand) , Kayo Sports (www.kayosports.com.au) and MyFootball Live App, Live Fast and Data Free for Telstra mobile customers
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #BRIvPER
To purchase tickets visit www.a-league.com.au/tickets
Brisbane Roar FC squad: 1.Macklin FREKE (gk), 2.Scott NEVILLE, 3.Corey BROWN, 6.Macaulay GILLESPHEY, 9.Masato KUDO, 10.Riku DANZAKI, 11.Joe CHAMPNESS, 15.Jesse DALEY, 16.Joshua BRINDELL-SOUTH, 21.Jamie YOUNG (gk), 22.Antonee BURKE-GILROY, 23.Dylan WENZEL-HALLS, 25.Rahmat AKBARI, 26.Jay O’SHEA, 27.Kai TREWIN, 29.Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS, 34.Alex PARSONS, 35.Hassan RAMAZANI, 36.Eli ADAMS, 37.Cyrus DEHMIE
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 9.Masato KUDO (promoted), 22.Antonee BURKE-GILROY (promoted), 35.Hassan RAMAZANI (promoted), 36.Eli ADAMS (promoted)
Outs: 5.Tom ALDRED (hamstring)
Unavailable: 17.Golgol MEBRAHTU (groin), 19.Jack HINGERT (hamstring)
Perth Glory squad: 1.Tando VELAPHI (gk), 2.Jason GERIA, 5.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS, 6.Osama MALIK, 8.Kosuke OTA, 9.Bruno FORNAROLI, 10.Andy KEOGH, 11.Joel CHIANESE, 13.Luke BODNAR, 15.Brandon WILSON, 17.Diego CASTRO, 18.Nick D’AGOSTINO, 19.Callum TIMMINS, 20.Carlo ARMIENTO, 22.Josh RAWLINS, 23.Dane INGHAM, 24.Daniel STYNES, 29.Darryl LACHMAN, 33.Liam REDDY (gk)
**1-3 to be omitted**
Ins: 20.Carlo ARMIENTO (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 4.Sebastian LANGKAMP (groin – 1-2 weeks), 7.Chris IKONOMIDIS (international duty)
#OneGlory
