Wednesday night is poised as a crucial night in the quest for league success for both Melbourne Victory’s Men and Women teams.
An away trip to keep pace with the league’s top teams awaits the Men while our in-form Women host ladder-leaders Sydney FC.
Josh Brillante will miss the trip to Western Sydney after receiving two yellow cards in the loss to Newcastle.
Fellow central midfielder Rai Marchan remains out following facial surgery.
Their absence could provide opportunity for the likes of Birkan Kirdar to step up into the line-up.
Robbie Kruse has returned to full training and is in the selection mix.
Roderick Miranda returned from injury and came off the bench on the weekend. The experienced defender could return to the starting eleven against the Wanderers.
Playing their fourth game in 11 days and with a home fixture against the Mariners coming up on Saturday, further squad rotation is possible against Western Sydney.
For the Women’s team, Claudia Bunge has travelled to the United States with New Zealand for the SheBelieves Cup and will miss.
Coach Jeff Hopkins says her role in defence could be filled by a number of players including Amy Jackson, Tiff Eliadis and Emma Robers.
Lia Privitelli is a chance to return to the starting line-up with a potential defensive re-shuffle.
Men’s squad v Western Sydney Wanderers – Wednesday 7:55pm AEDT (away)
#1 Matt Acton
#2 Jason Geria
#3 Jason Davidson
#5 Matt Spiranovic
#6 Leigh Broxham
#7 Chris Ikonomidis
#9 Francesco Margiotta
#10 Robbie Kruse
#11 Ben Folami
#13 Birkan Kirdar
#14 Jay Barnett
#15 Aaron Anderson
#16 Stefan Nigro
#17 Brendan Hamill
#18 Nick D’Agostino
#19 Luka Prso
#20 Ivan Kelava
#21 Roderick Miranda
#22 Jake Brimmer
#23 Marco Rojas
#24 Nishan Velupillay
#25 Luis Lawrie-Lattanzio
#26 Lleyton Brooks
#27 Zaydan Bello
Women’s squad v Sydney FC – Wednesday 8:05pm AEDT (City Vista Pavilion and Sports Field)
#1 Casey Dumont
#2 Tiffany Eliadis
#4 Emma Robers
#5 Courtney Nevin
#7 Kyra Cooney-Cross
#8 Alana Murphy
#9 Catherine Zimmerman
#10 Alex Chidiac
#11 Harriet Withers
#13 Polly Doran
#14 Melina Ayres
#15 Amy Jackson
#16 Paige Zois
#17 Maja Markovski
#19 Lia Privitelli (C)
#20 Melissa Maizels
#22 Francesca Iermano
#25 Brooke Hendrix
#30 MelindaJ Barbieri
#40 Sophia Varley
