Sydney FC could risk being stripped of points as they consider defying an FFA ruling that Terry Antonis is ineligible to play in Saturday’s big A-League clash with Melbourne Victory.
Coach Graham Arnold went ahead and named midfield star Antonis in his match squad on Thursday, his chief executive Tony Pignata saying he`d discuss the situation with chairman Scott Barlow before making a final decision on him playing “probably tomorrow”.
The FFA made it clear Sydney FC stand to forfeit any points from Saturday’s clash of the unbeaten teams at Allianz Stadium, the match deemed a 3-0 win for the Victory if Antonis plays.
They could also be fined for a rules breach.
The FFA issued a statement declaring Antonis ineligible to play, citing his car accident on the way to Sydney airport on Sunday that prevented him joining the Socceroos squad in Japan, ahead of Tuesday’s friendly.
“FFA would like to clarify that in accordance with the FFA statutes, players selected for international duty who are subsequently withdrawn due to injury or illness cannot play for their club during the period for which the player should have been released,” it read.
“Therefore, FFA confirms that Terry Antonis is ineligible to play for Sydney FC against Melbourne Victory this Saturday.”
Pignata disagreed.
“They’ve told us that he’s out. They’ve told us the penalties if he does play,” he said.
“It is a decision that we will make after I speak to our chairman Scott Barlow and we’ll decide whether he plays or not.”
Pignata insists FFA have wrongly interpreted the situation when Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou and medical staff decided it was not in Antonis’ best interests to fly to Japan and called up Oliver Bozanic instead.
“We believe he should be playing, given that he was cleared to fly in 48 hours but the national team deemed not to worry about it and replaced him,” he said.
“So we believe that given they’ve released him that he’s eligible to play.”
The 20-year-old Antonis suffered minor head and neck injuries in his car accident but was cleared of any serious damage by scans.
Sydney FC have since monitored Antonis closely in line with the FFA’s six-day concussion policy.
The FFA ruling is a further dent to Arnold’s already-depleted side.
Strikers Marc Janko and Corey Gameiro are on international duty and captain Alex Brosque was unable to finish Thursday’s training session because of an ankle injury.
Melbourne Victory are at least as badly off, with up to nine players unavailable through injury or international duty including skipper Mark Milligan, Kosta Barbarouses, Daniel Georgievski, Connor Pain, Scott Galloway and Jason Geria.
But that’s cold comfort for Arnold.
“You saw what they did against Wellington with a so-called depleted squad,” he said in reference to the Victory’s 2-0 win earlier this month.
“(People) are tipping them as championship material and that’s the depth of the squad they’ve got.”
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Here is the way the Roar expert panel sees all the action unfolding across the final weekend of play prior to the semi-finals.
Even though St.Pauli ultimately lost a high-scoring affair, Jackson Irvine was a standout, as well as scoring a late goal.
Mathew Leckie played a pivotal part in Melbourne City claiming an 8-nil win; playing a role in several of his team's goals.
The loser of the Sydney Derby will be under immense pressure entering the final three matches of the season.
A good performance from Michael Ruhs, scoring twice to beat Macarthur and doubling his season goal tally in the process.
Phillip Cancar’s rather comical and momentarily delayed dive in the 36th minute of Newcastle Jets 3-1 win over Sydney FC on Sunday was a…
