The Hyundai A-League Grand Final cannot come soon enough for Tony Popovic.
Glory’s Head Coach was joined by skipper Diego Castro for today’s official pre-game media conference at Optus Stadium where the men in purple will be looking to overcome Sydney FC on Sunday.
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And Popovic is relishing the prospect of taking on the Sky Blues in front of crowd expected to number over 55,000.
“We are excited by the game,” he said.
“The players are certainly ready to perform and I’m as excited as probably all the fans are to see how the players will play.
“I anticipate a fantastic performance from the team tomorrow.
“Training-wise, it’s just been a normal week for the players.
“We have focused on what’s at hand and what’s at hand is a Grand Final, the final piece of our journey this year.
“It started here against Chelsea where we laid the foundations of what is happening now.
“We’ve played well all year, we deserve to be here, we’ve been the best team and tomorrow we have an opportunity to top it off with a Grand Final win.”
Glory’s Head Coach went on to admit that he will have some tough calls to make when it comes to picking his starting eleven for the decider.
“There are always selection headaches,” he said, “especially among this great group that I’m fortunate enough to coach and it would be wrong to rule anyone out.
“The players have been pushing and they all want to play.
“We’ll have a light run this afternoon and then we’ll make that final call.”
Skipper Castro, meanwhile, was keen to avoid making any contact with the Grand Final trophy during the traditional photo opportunity alongside opposite number, Alex Brosque.
“I’m superstitious and don’t want to touch the trophy now,” he said, “but hopefully I will be touching it at the end of the game
“It will be a special moment for everybody. It’s almost a sell-out and we can’t wait to play in front of that crowd.
“It’s fantastic for us to be here and we are embracing the challenge. It will be one of the biggest games I have played in.”
Kick off on Sunday is at 4.30pm WST and a limited number of tickets for the game are still available HERE.
#OneMission #OneGlory
