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FFA Cup Draw - Melbourne City vs Sydney FC


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Sydney FC head coach Graham Arnold says he won’t risk his new marquee signing Marc Janko when the Sky Blues play Melbourne City in the FFA Cup tonight.

The Austrian striker signed with Sydney on July 31 and has only been in Australia for two weeks.

Arnold told FourFourTwo he won’t jeopardise any players susceptible to injury by giving them a run in the Cup.

Bernie Ibini and Ali Abbas were in the All-Stars squad against Juventus and are also likely to miss the match.

“It’s going to be a good test for us to see where we’re at, at the moment,” Arnold said with Alex Brosque also reportedly out.

“Of course the Cup is important, but for us and the process we’re going through my eyes are on the (A-League).

“I might risk players for important games, but for this one because we’re still two months out there’s no way.”

“(Marc Janko) is coming along well but … he’s only been in the country for 10 days.”

Arnold said it was the same for anyone carrying a slight injury.

“Pre-season is immensely important for every player,” he said.

“If they miss the pre-season then there’s a good chance that they’re behind the eight ball all season.

“We’ve got to make sure the players that are available are fit and ready to go.”

Arnold believes the Sky Blues will give a good account of themselves when they line-up against Melbourne City at Ballarat’s Morshead Park on Tuesday despite the hit to their attacking ranks.

The two teams will also meet in round one of the new A-League season on October 11 at Allianz Stadium.

“It gives us a great opportunity to see what they’ve got before the first game of the A-League,” Arnold said.

“David Villa is not here now but he’s going to add a lot of strength to them in round one.

“John van’t Schip is a great coach and brings a lot of experience to Melbourne City.

“He knows the club inside out and with the extra financial clout no doubt they’re going to be an even stronger team this year from last year and the years before.

“They’re leading the way in spending money at the moment in the A-League and that brings its own pressure as well. They’ve got a lot of youngsters and handling the pressure will be new to them.”

Arnold joined Sydney FC in May after an unsuccessful stint in Japan. The former title-winning coach with the Central Coast Mariners is satisfied with how the Sky Blues pre-season is going.

“I’m very happy with where we are at the moment,” Arnold said.

“Obviously we’re still two months away from the start of the competition.

“We’ve made some changes around the team, with new players coming in, but also some off-field stuff like the gymnasium and the training facility, trying to make it better than what it was before.

“I’m very happy with the way the players have taken to what we’re trying to do and we’re definitely a work in progress.

“We’re going to go through ups and downs but I’m very pleased with the way we’re going at the moment.”

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It'll be interesting how much traffic the club websites get for the streams. I get the sense there was a lot of interest already, and Man City FC officially advertising it (with the match at a decent time, for those in Europe as well), there could be a pretty impressive amount of traffic. Hopefully that happens and streams become more commonplace in the future, especially when there's no TV broadcast. Great work by the club to get a stream up and running.

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NEWS: Williams proud to be part of A-League history

 

Tuesday, 12 August 2014

 

 

David Williams took a slice of A-League history home on Sunday night as Alessandro Del Piero made way for the Melbourne City FC forward in the 65th minute.

 

In what was the Italian’s last game on Australian soil, Williams shared the moment with Del Piero as he farewelled the Australian game to a standing ovation in front of 55,000 fans at ANZ Stadium.

 

“He [Del Piero] was all for us and he’s been all for us the last couple of weeks so I’m just happy I got to play in the last game that he’ll be involved in [in Australia]," Williams said.

 

Williams came into the fray against a star-studded Juventus for the All Stars and worked hard down the left wing for the final 20 minutes, with the All Stars conjuring a goal through Western Sydney Wanderers' striker Tomi Juric while Williams was on the pitch.

 

Williams will have to re-focus quickly with Melbourne City FC Head Coach John van't Schip confirming that the forward may play a part in his side’s Westefield FFA Cup clash against Sydney FC on Tuesday evening.

 

“I know I have missed out on some very hard and physical training back at Melbourne City FC and now I’ll have to do a bit of catch up - but I still feel good, I feel fit and I am itching to play on Tuesday," Williams said.

 

“I’ll just try and prepare myself as best I can but knowing that I’ll be involved is something positive."

 

Williams said he was excited about kicking off the new campaign with an enticing clash against Sydney.

 

“I feel very special to be part of the Club and I am looking forward to the season ahead," Williams said.

 

“I’m sure we will start it off very positive and maintain that because last year wasn’t good enough and there’s only one thing we can do [and that] is get better.”

 

 

http://www.melbournecityfc.com.au/article/news-willams-proud-to-be-part-of-a-league-history/uzl8e87179ih1muitvil1fpst

 

 

Certainty to start IMO. The real question is how many minutes he'll play, and then who is the focal point of our attack?

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Don't know too much about Sydney's squad, but I've seen this lineup mentioned in the media today, and it looks pretty plausible.

 

            Naumoff Gameiro

                     Carle

               Abbas Gligor

                    Antonis

Jurman Petkovic Ognenovski Ryall

                  Necevski

 

 

I reckon if our team can dominate possession, we should be well on our way to beating this side. If we can get our solid and superior front 4 of Williams, Duff, Dugandzic and Mooy into the game, then that should decisively swing the game in our favour and scoring should happen. ATM though I'm intrigued to see who steps up to take responsibility for scoring for us, because ATM I'm not too sure who in our lineup is our biggest goal-threat.

 

Anyway I'm off to Ballarat now. Hope the temperature stays at least a few degrees above zero, and I expect the team to get up for this match, and put in a good performance and win.

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For those who are intersted it is raining here at the moment and it currently feels like 2.1 degrees. Bring rain jackets, personally I don't thunk umbrellas are very practical for a terrace.

It is wet but not that cold. well it doesn't feel that cold. Temp will drop tonight though.

 

Road was pretty wet on my way up so it may freeze tonight on the roads

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