Cassio and Barbiero out of play-off match
Adelaide United have a number of injury worries heading into tonight's play-off for 5th and 6th place at the FIFA Club World Cup, with Coach Aurelio Vidmar already conceding that Brazilian pocket rocket Cassio (fever) and tireless midfielder Fabian Barbiero (calf) will miss the match.
The match against six-time African Champions Egypt-s Al Ahly, will be played at the Yokohama International Stadium with kick-off at 6.30pm AEDT.
Captain Travis Dodd is also in doubt after he was once again restricted to light running at the team-s training session this morning, while there is also a question mark on Brazilian playmaker Diego, who did not train.
Despite narrowly falling to Gamba Osaka in the Quarter Finals and being left to fight out the minor places, Vidmar believes the Club World Cup has been a prestigious event for his side to be part of.
“It has so far been a tremendous experience for our club and I think we were a little bit unlucky against Gamba, I thought our performance was extremely good,” Vidmar said at the official pre-match media conference.
“Unfortunately now we play the play-off game, one which we-re disappointed about not having a shot at Manchester United in the Semi Final, but we-re about to play a very strong team, a very experienced team, a team which has a big and rich tradition.”
Al Ahly is the most successful club in African football, having won the Egyptian league 33 times and making their third appearance in the FIFA Club World Cup. They achieved the league and Champions League double in 2007/08, and will be hoping to give their fans something to cheer about after letting a 2-nil lead slip against Pachuca, the Mexican club running out 4-2 winners at the end of extra time in the other Quarter Final.
“They (Al Ahly) have been here before and we saw how good a team they are against Pachuca and we-re expecting a very difficult game,” Vidmar said.
“We need to make sure we defend in numbers and also attack in numbers. We saw the game that they played the other day and they were very good at the counter attack. They-re a very quick side, they-ve got some fantastic players, really strong players and also players with fantastic technical ability so we know it-s going to be difficult but we-ll put a team out there that is going to be extremely competitive and hopefully we can win the game.”
With The Reds concluding their tournament against the Egyptians tomorrow, Vidmar says each of the games The Reds play in the FIFA Club World Cup will put the club in good stead when they return to Australia and try to maintain their spot on top of the Hyundai A-League.
“(These games) will actually make us even a little bit more match hardened and I think that is going to be extremely important going into the last seven games of the A-League season,” Vidmar said.
“It-s a great opportunity. We would have loved to have payed them (Manchester United) in the Semi Finals but now we-ll sit in the stands and watch a very good football team,” Vidmar said.
“It will be a good eye opener for our players to see how well they conduct themselves and how well they do everything on the park.”
United-s travelling party are scheduled to depart Japan on Friday evening before arriving back in Adelaide at 11.25am on Saturday morning.
SBS will not televise Adelaide United-s match against Al Ahly, however the network will show the Final of the tournament on Sunday, December 21.
In last night's first semi final, Ecuadorian side Liga de Quito beat Mexican side Pachuca 2-0 to advance to the final where they will play the winner of the Manchester United and Gamba Osaka clash.