Eyebrows raised over the signing of Brazilian trialist Henrique Andrade Silva for Queensland’s A-League finals campaign have not fazed unrepentant Roar coach Frank Farina.
Central Coast mentor Lawrie McKinna hardly masked his disappointment over Farina’s tactics after Silva came off the bench late in the Roar’s 2-1 minor semi-final second leg win over the Mariners on Friday night.
And he believed a deadline should be set in place by Football Federation Australia (FFA) to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
But after savouring a victory that sealed Queensland’s second preliminary final appearance in as many seasons, Farina made no apologies.
“We played by the rules, that’s governed by the FFA, and the FFA said that it’s all okay,” he said.
“And ours is legitimate. We’ve got (Josh) McCloughan out for the rest of the season, Reinaldo out for the season – it’s not as if we have tried to pull a swifty.
“And Tahj Minniecon could be out as well. We will need the backup.”
Indeed Farina faced an injury crisis with McCloughan (groin) out of the finals series and Minniecon (hip) “no guarantee” of proving his fitness for the preliminary final showdown.
But McKinna seemed to need more convincing.
“It seems strange that you can strengthen your team for the finals series,” he said.
“Maybe I’m old fashioned … but I don’t think you should be strengthening your squad for the finals – simple as that.
“I think it was a big surprise to a lot of people.
“But that’s the rules. If you can exploit it and get away with it well …”
McKinna conceded that Silva’s injection in the 76th minute had little effect on the result – the Roar were already up 2-1 by that stage.
However, he was adamant that the practice should be stamped out.
“It was not like him coming on cost us, but I think the players who went through the season should be the ones in the finals series,” he said.
“I think there should be something where a player can’t get signed after a certain date.
“There should be a deadline. But that’s just my opinion.”
Farina surprisingly injected Silva onto the bench for Friday night’s crunch clash despite the Brazilian only recently arriving for an A-League trial.
Farina clearly liked what he saw – he signed the 23-year-old on a short term deal as an injury replacement for Reinaldo (osteitis pubis) after receiving a last minute clearance from his South American club America Miniero.
Silva got a not so subtle welcome to the A-League when he finally got on the field – he was on the wrong end of an 88th minute high tackle from Dean Heffernan that earned the Mariner a yellow card.
The diminutive livewire still showed enough to encourage Farina.
“He’s still not as fit as the other guys but he’s sharp enough,” Farina said.
“I liked the look of him when we saw him last week. I think he can do really well.”
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