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United dig deep for Sydney trip

Beekmans has been granted compassionate leave to return to Holland and Macallister suffered an aggravation of his hamstring strain last weekend after coming on as a substitute.

Another headache for Bleiberg is a troublesome ankle knock to Dutch striker Maceo Rigters who only did moderate training today. Rigters will be given up until the eleventh hour to recover in time for kick off with young striker Chris Harold drafted into the squad as cover.

“With Maceo we will have to wait and see how he is on Saturday morning,” Bleiberg said.

“He will be given every chance to prove that he is fit to play and with the kind of knock he got every 24 hours makes a big difference. He did half the session today then we gave him a rest. I’m still hopeful that he will play.

“We have a squad of players who played last week and we’ll just rotate them around, as well as adding a few more guys to come in.

“Dylan McGowan and Daniel Bowles will come into the squad and even though we’ve lost a couple of important players they will do a good job for us. We have every confidence in them.

“We have a slight advantage because we haven’t played for seven days and Sydney played on Wednesday in the scorching heat, so hopefully us losing a couple of players and Sydney playing just a few days ago will balance everything out.”

On the plus side for the United Head Coach is the recovery of skipper Michael Thwaite, who earlier in the week was rehydrated in hospital after a stomach virus depleted his energy stocks. Thwaite trained fully with the squad today and is almost certain to take his place in the side.

”I went to hospital in Tuesday and went on the drip because I was really dehydrated,” Thwaite said.

“In hindsight perhaps I shouldn’t have played last week because I wasn’t feeling the best, but I didn’t want to let the team down by not playing. I got through the 90 minutes okay but after that I was in trouble.

“I feel back to normal now though and I’m ready to play on Sunday,” he added.

One player who is sure to cause a tired Sydney defence some problems this Sunday is left wing-back Adama Traore.

The speedy Ivorian has played his way back into top form in recent weeks and will be hoping his luck in front of goal changes this Sunday.

Last weekend he watched in frustration as his blistering second half drive thundered off the upright and bounced to safety, which is typical of his side’s luck at the moment, he says.

“We’ve been a bit unlucky. Sometimes you hit the post and they go in, but for us at the moment if we hit the post they go out. Hopefully that will change soon,” Traore said.

“I think this game is like any other game. Sydney will be hungry like us and we’re not thinking about the last time we played them; we’re focusing on the present and the future, not the past. It will be a different game on Sunday.”

Hyundai A-League Week 16 - Sunday 22 January 2012
SYDNEY FC v GOLD COAST UNITED
At Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
Kick-off: 4.00pm QLD (5.00pm local).
Referees: Strebre Delovski
Twitter: #HALsydgcu

Live and exclusive on Fox Sports 1

Gold Coast United Squad:

20.Jerrad Tyson [gk], 3.Michael Thwaite (c), 4.Zac Anderson, 5.Kristian Rees, 10.Tahj Minniecon,13.Ante Rozic, 14.Ben Halloran, 15.Adama Traore, 16.Maceo Rigters, 17.Chris Harold, 18.James Brown, 21.Daniel Severino, 22.Peter Jungschlager, 23.Dylan McGowan, 24.Jonas Salley, 28.Daniel Bowles, 29.Mitch Bevan, 40.Chris O’Connor [gk].

*three to be omitted*

In: 4.Zac Anderson, 10.Tahj Minniecon,17.Chris Harold, 23.Dylan McGowan, 28.Daniel Bowles (all promoted).

Out: 12.Dylan Macallister (hamstring – 6 weeks), 6.Paul Beekmans (personal leave – 2 weeks),

Unavailable: 1.Glen Moss (groin injury – 6 weeks), 9.Joel Porter (calf – 3 weeks), 19.Chris Broadfoot (ankle injury – indefinite)

Sydney FC squad:

1. Liam Reddy [gk], 2.Sebastian Ryall, 4.Pascal Bosschaart, 5.Michael Beauchamp, 7.Brett Emerton, 8.Karol Kisel, 9.Bruno Cazarine, 10.Nick Carle, 12.Shannon Cole, 15.Terry McFlynn (c), 17.Terry Antonis, 19.Mark Bridge, 20.Ivan Necevski [gk], 21.Scott Jamieson, 22.Nathan Sherlock, 23.Rhyan Grant, 24.Mitch Mallia

*two to be omitted*

In: Pascal Bosschaart (returns from suspension), Shannon Cole (promoted)

Out: Dimi Petratos (not selected)

Unavailable: Nil

Head to head: All matches (played 8): Sydney FC wins 2, Gold Coast United wins 4 (2 draws)