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Sydney FC coach John Kosmina has rated visiting Queensland Roar one of the most daunting foes in the A-League, saying their “frightening” speed will be his main concern tonight.
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The sky blues go into the Sydney Football Stadium clash on the back of a surprise 2-1 loss to lowly Wellington Phoenix, while Frank Farina’s Roar are flying high having knocked over title favourites Melbourne Victory 2-0 away from home.
Asked if Queensland were a more difficult side to beat than the Victory, Kosmina said: “Yeah, I think they are. They’re a tough side to play against.
“The thing that’s frightening about Queensland is their pace.
“They’ve got Mass Murdocca and Matty McKay who are little Eveready men in the middle of the park.
“They just bomb around everywhere.”
Queensland’s defensive stocks are slim, Roar coach Frank Farina forced to gamble on unheralded Matt Mundy after losing fellow rookie Luke DeVere to the Young Socceroos, Ben Griffin to suspension and Josh McCloughan with an ongoing injury.
The 21-year-old Mundy will partner in-form skipper Craig Moore in the centre of defence in what looks sure to be an intriguing battle against the likes of Sydney attackers John Aloisi, Mark Bridge and former Roar man Alex Brosque.
“He’s fit and he’s keen – all those ingredients will point to a good debut for him,” Farina said of Mundy, an accountancy student playing park football and working part-time at David Jones three months ago.
“I’d imagine that Sydney would be looking at trying to force him into errors but I’m sure he can handle it.”
Farina also has a slight concern over midfield hardman Danny Tiatto who left training early today with an adductor complaint but should play.
Kosmina had no such worries, set to field the same starting line-up for the fourth straight game.
“I’m not going to change the team. The more we play together the better we’ll become,” he said.
“I didn’t rip the players up this week or have a hard week, we’ve just kept doing the same thing.”
Kosmina and Farina had a bit of a war of words last finals series but the Sydney boss said there was nothing in it.
“We had a bit of banter last season and it was all a bit of fun.
“There’s always a bit of one-upmanship among old teammates, everyone likes to stick it up to the other one, but other than that, no. It’ll be good to see him.”
Socceroos coach Pim verbeek will have a keen eye on the fixture, with Sydney’s Shannon Cole and Stuart Musialik looking to keep their place in the squad for the World Cup qualifier against Qatar in Brisbane on October 15.
Both were named in the provisional 35-man squad this week but Verbeek is likely to whittle it down before camp begins on Wednesday.
For Cole and Musialik it could be their final audition.
“I’ll try not to think about it,” Musialik said today.
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