The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Brisbane roar praise for Gold Coast United

28th February, 2011
5

Colourful Gold Coast United coach Miron Bleiberg’s words usually get under Brisbane Roar’s skin. But Brisbane on Monday could only salute their A-League nemesis’ obvious gift of the gab following United’s shock preliminary final berth.

Bleiberg was at it again on Monday when he triumphantly returned to the Gold Coast from the stunning 3-2 weekend finals win in Adelaide, describing his team as “invincible”.

However, giant Roar midfielder Erik Paartalu refused to bite, instead complimenting Bleiberg on the way he had helped reverse United’s fortunes.

The Roar taught United a football lesson in their last clash before the finals – a 4-0 thrashing in front of almost 21,000 Suncorp Stadium fans.

Yet United bounced back, upsetting Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United to be just one game away from booking an all-Queensland March 13 grand final against the Roar.

Asked what he thought of Bleiberg describing United as invincible, Paartalu said: “That’s Miron.

“I suppose he needs to get his boys fired up for the next game.

“But to be fair, when you lose 4-0 it takes a lot of character to come back from that.

Advertisement

“No doubt it would have been a psychological blow finishing the (regular) season with a bad result like that … so he is obviously saying the right things to his boys.

“It just shows their strength to come back.”

Paartalu is keeping his fingers crossed for a “derby” grand final, admitting United had a genuine chance of yet another upset against No.2-ranked Central Coast Mariners in Saturday night’s preliminary final in Gosford.

“I would expect it to go to extra time in a game where so much is on the line,” he said.

“But they (United) seem to be hitting their peak at the right time.”

The Roar got a scare in their major semi-final second leg in Brisbane on Saturday night, trailing Central Coast 2-0 in the first half.

However, they fought back valiantly to extend their record unbeaten run to 27 games and ensure Brisbane hosted a national soccer final for the first time since 1997.

Advertisement

Despite the Mariners’ fright, Paartalu was not sure which grand final opponent he would fear most.

“We have played the Mariners a couple of times now so from that point of view it makes it a little bit easier knowing what you are up against,” he said.

“While we have had good results against the Gold Coast they will be fired up to prove us wrong.”

The Mariners believed they had secured a “psychological win” over the Roar on Saturday night but Paartalu claimed the gritty 2-2 draw had only boosted his side’s confidence.

“We have been so dominant over the season but it is now at the business end and we have to live up to that,” he said.

“But I thought we showed tremendous character coming back from two goals down – that’s the story of our season.”

close