Match Details
Brisbane Roar v Melbourne Victory
Date: Sun 3 Mar
Time: 5:00pm (AEDT)
Location: Suncorp Stadium
Preview
Our boys in blue make their first trip to the Sunshine State this season when they take on Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
It will be the first meeting between the two sides this season, with Victory sitting 9 points above the Roar on the Isuzu UTE A-League table.
Tony Popovic’s side is coming off only their second loss of the season and will be looking to bounce back into form heading into the back end of the season.
Speaking to the media ahead of Sunday’s clash, Head Coach Tony Popovic said he expects tough conditions in Brisbane.
“There are always different challenges from different opponents and Brisbane offers a challenge playing in the Brisbane conditions,” he said.
“We’ve seen them recently have some very good results, a good win against Melbourne City. They’ve had a breakout in terms of the goals they scored. They came back against Western United, so it’s a lot of fight, a lot of spirit in that team.
“We know there are no easy games in this league as it’s showing and you know, we’re sitting in a good position on the table. We want to get better. We want to get more points and it’ll be a tough game but we feel we’re ready for the challenge.”
Touching on Adama Traore and Roly Bonevacia’s health, Popovic said they’re both very close.
“We expect Adama to be fully available, whether it’s as an impact player, or it’s to start the game,” he explained.
“At the moment, we’re just trying to get Roly as best conditioned as we can and getting him training regularly, which he hasn’t done for a long time. And, you know, we feel he’s getting close.”
From Tony
The Stats
Squad
2.Jason GERIA, 3.Adama TRAORE, 5.Damien DA SILVA, 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 7.Chris IKONOMIDIS, 8.Zinedine MACHACH, 10.Bruno FORNAROLI, 11.Ben FOLAMI, 14.Connor CHAPMAN, 16.Stefan NIGRO, 17.Nishan VELUPILLAY, 18.Fabian MONGE, 19.Daniel ARZANI, 20.Paul IZZO, 22.Jake BRIMMER, 23.Salim KHELIFI, 25.Ryan TEAGUE, 28.Roly BONEVACIA, 37.Kasey BOS, 40.Christian SICILIANO
Ins: 3.Adama TRAORE, 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 28.Roly BONEVACIA
Outs: 21.Roderick MIRANDA, 27.Jordi VALADON
Unavailable: Nil
