Sydney FC captain Alex Brosque expects striker Shane Smeltz to be in the right frame of mind for Saturday’s A-League derby despite still being distraught about the sickening injuries he caused Newcastle goalkeeper Mark Birighitti to sustain.
Birighitti was taken to hospital on Saturday and had more than 30 stitches inserted after Smeltz accidentally struck him in the face with his boot.
On Monday Birighitti had two teeth reinserted in the wake of the incident as they contested a goal-mouth ball during the match at Hunter Stadium.
“He (Smeltz) is still quite distraught about it, he is very upset,” Brosque said on Monday.
“The way he came in today still talking about it shows that he cares about Birighitti and his health and he’s sad that it happened.”
Brosque was adamant Smeltz would have the right mindset for the derby against the Wanderers.
“Smeltzy is obviously disappointed with himself and what’s happened, but come Saturday he’ll be fine,” Brosque said.
Brosque thought it very likely there would be be other incidents of a similar type given the way the game was played.
“I’m sure we will see that in the future again, it’s something that probably is inevitable a little bit with the way that challenges happen and one-on-ones happen,” Brosque said.
He thought media pundit and former Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Bosnich was unduly harsh in describing Smeltz’s challenge as irresponsible and reckless.
“‘Bozza’ has been very critical of him and being a keeper you can understand that probably,” Brosque said.
“If you know Smeltzy and you know what sort of character he is, you know that there was no intention to it.”
Brosque was one of the first players on the field to get to the scene of the injury.
“I didn’t think there was too much in it initially, but when I looked down and saw his face it was quite horrible,” Brosque said,
“It’s something you don’t want to see on a football field.
“It was very unfortunate for ‘Birers’ I think the way he’s handled it ever since it happened has been fantastic, so all credit to him.
“He’s spoken to Smeltzy a few times and understood exactly what the situation was and he knows that Smeltzy as a striker had to go for the ball.”
Brosque pointed out Smeltz himself had been on the wrong end of a nasty facial incident in the 2012 grand final, after which he required plastic surgery when he accidentally got struck by the elbow of Brisbane skipper Matt Smith.
“He copped 50-something stitches in his face,” Brosque said.
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