Preview: Jeju United v Melbourne Victory

Melbourne have a habit of performing when it matters and there is no bigger occasion than a cut-throat match to get through to the knockout stages of the ACL for the first time.

b>Date: Wednesday May 11
Kick-off: 8:30pm AEST
Venue: Jeju World Cup Stadium
Television: Live and exclusive on Fox Sports 3
Live Match Centre: www.melbournevictory.com.au

Head-to-head
Played 1, Wins: Jeju United 1

How they made it
Melbourne Victory: 2010 A-League runners-up
Jeju United: 2010 J-League runners-up

History
These teams have already met once this campaign with Jeju United getting a 2-1 win at Melbourne’s Docklands Stadium in March, shortly after Victory had replaced former coach Ernie Merrick. Victory took an early lead through Danny Allsopp before Jeju equalised just on half time through Hyun-Beom Park. Hyun Ho-Lee then scored the winner six minutes from time.

Recent form:
Jeju United:
KL: Jeju United 3, Daegu, 0, Jeju
ACL: Tianjin Teda 3, Jeju United 0, Tianjin
KL: Seoul 2, Jeju United 1, Seoul
KL: Jeju United 2, Seongnam 1, Jeju
ACL: Gamba Osaka 3, Jeju United 1, Expo 70 Stadium

Melbourne Victory:
ACL: Melbourne Victory 1, Gamba Osaka 1, Docklands
ACL: Melbourne Victory 2, Tianjin Teda 1, Docklands
ACL: Tianjin Teda 1, Melbourne Victory 1, Tianjin
ACL: Melbourne Victory 1, Jeju United 2, Docklands
ACL: Gamba Osaka 5, Melbourne Victory 1, Osaka

Decisions for Mehmet
With Isaka Cernak suspended and Tommy Pondeljak and Marvin Angulo both ill, Mehmet Durakovic will have a few changes to make. Robbie Kruse, who returns from suspension, is the logical replacement for Cernak while Grant Brebner and Surat Sukha will likely come back onto the bench. Tando Velaphi is fit to play despite rolling his ankle last week.

Behind Enemy Lines
Striker Shin Young-Rok collapsed on the field in the weekend’s 3-0 win over Daegu and has lapsed in to a coma in a huge blow for Jeju ahead of this match. The setback is not only in terms of personnel but the overall mood of the club.

Our Hero
Carlos Hernandez – The Costa Rican is still not quite back to his best form, but looked very dangerous in patches against Gamba Osaka last week.

Danger Man
Hyun-Beom Park – The stylish midfielder scored against Melbourne at Docklands earlier in the campaign and has netted two in the past three K-League matches.

Why we will win
Melbourne have a habit of performing when it matters and there is no bigger occasion than a cut-throat match to get through to the knockout stages of the ACL for the first time.

After the major changes that swept the club over the past couple of months, Melbourne are starting to look a lot stronger and performed very well against Gamba Osaka last week, where they should have got all three points. The issue for Melbourne is that they have never won away from home in the ACL, something they need to do here to stay in the hunt for a spot in the final 16.

Even a win won’t be enough, with Gamba Osaka needing to lose to Tianjin in the other game to keep Melbourne’s hopes alive. The result of that match will be known about 30 mins before this match finishes.

Regardless, Melbourne must attack and with Thompson, Hernandez, Allsopp and Kruse all available, boast plenty of strike force. The key is to score early and break the Koreans’ spirit. Then try to get a second to kill the game off.

Melbourne have that capability and the killer instinct to ensure their end of the bargain is upheld, but the result in the other game might not go their way, with gamba Osaka boasting an imposing home record.

Squads
Jeju United:
1. Kim Ho-Jun, 2. Park Jin-Ok, 3. Kang Min-Hyuk, 4. Kim In-Ho, 5. Park Hyun-Beom, 6. Choi Won-Kwon, 7. Kim Young-Sin, 8. Oh Seung-Bum, 9. Kang Su-Il, 10. Shin Young-Rok, 11 Jair, 13. Ma Chul-Jun, 14. Kim Tae-Min, 15. Hong Jung-Ho, 16. Bae Ki-Jong, 17. Kim Jun-Yub, 18. Kim Eun-Jung (captain), 19. Jeon Tae-Hyun, 20. Oh Ban-Suk, 21. Han Dong-Jin, 22. Lee Hyun-Ho, 23. Han Jae-Man, 24. Jung Da-Seul, 25. Kang Joon-Woo, 26. Yun Won-Il, 27. Cho Won-Kwang, 28. Felipinho, 29. Lee Sang-Hyup, 30. Bae Il-Hwan, 31. Lee Jin-Hyung, 32. Lee Keun-Won, 33. An Jong-Hun, 34. Kang In-Jun, 35. Kwon Yong-Nam, 36. Kang Min-Seong, 37. Shim Young-Sung, 38. Lee Yoon-Ho, 39. Santos, 41. Yoo Uk-Jin, 42. Hyun Kwang-Woo, 43. Moon Min-Kwi

Melbourne Victory:
1. Michael Petkovic (GK), 2. Kevin Muscat, 4. Petar Franjic, 5. Surat Sukha, 6. Leigh Broxham, 7. Matthew Kemp, 8. Grant Brebner, 10. Archie Thompson, 11. Marvin Angulo, 12. Rody Vargas, 13. Diogo Ferreira, 14 Billy Celeski, 15. Tom Pondeljak, 16. Carlos Hernandez, 17. Matthew Foschini, 18. Danny Allsopp, 19. Isaka Cernak, 20. Sebastian Mattei (GK), 21. Robbie Kruse, 23. Adrian Leijer, 24. Luke Pilkington, 25. Luke O’Dea, 26. Nick Ansell, 27. James Jeggo, 30. Tando Velaphi (GK)