Head Coach Tony Popovic is confident that his charges will maintain their formidable regular-season performance levels in Sunday’s eagerly-anticipated Grand Final showdown with Sydney FC (tickets available HERE).
Glory lost just three of their 27 games ahead of a thrilling shootout victory over Adelaide United in last Friday’s Semi-Final.
And Popovic sees no reason why his Premiership winners won’t scale those heights again in front of a 50,000-plus crowd at Optus Stadium.
“We’re at home and will have a fantastic crowd behind us and it’s a great reward for all the hard work that we’ve put in to get to this stage,” he said.
“We’re excited by the challenge and it’s going to be a fantastic occasion.
“We welcome Sydney who deserve to be here as well and we’ll be ready on Sunday.
“They [the Glory players] have been confident all year and have produced all year.
“They’ve embraced every challenge and they’ll embrace this one as well.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing them play and I know they’ll produce a fantastic game of football.
“Ultimately we want to win and we’ll give ourselves the best chance of doing that with our performance.
“We’ll do everything we can in terms of our preparation to have the players ready to step out and produce the performances I’ve been seeing every day in training and in games.
“If we do that, I’m very confident we’ll get the outcome we want.”
Popovic has named an unchanged group of 18 players for the clash with the Sky Blues who also successfully avoided picking up any fresh injuries in their Semi-Final win against Melbourne Victory.
The New South Welshmen will be seeking a fourth Hyundai A-League Grand Final victory, while Glory will be out to secure their first having already claimed the Premiers’ Plate.
Match Details
Hyundai A-League 2019 Grand Final
Perth Glory v Sydney FC
Optus Stadium, Perth
Sunday 19 May 2019
Kick-Off: 4:30pm (Local) (6:30pm AEST)
Referee: Shaun Evans
Assistant Referee 1: Andrew Lindsay
Assistant Referee 2: Paul Cetrangolo
Fourth Official: Chris Beath
Fifth Official: Josh Mannella
VAR: Kris Griffiths-Jones
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash tag #ALeagueGF #PERvSYD #FeelTheFinals
Perth Glory squad: 1.Tando VELAPHI (gk), 3.Jason DAVIDSON, 4.Shane LOWRY, 5.Ivan FRANJIC, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 7.Joel CHIANESE, 9.Andy KEOGH, 11.Brendon SANTALAB, 13.Matthew SPIRANOVIC, 16.Tomislav MRCELA, 17.Diego CASTRO, 19.Chris IKONOMIDIS, 20.Jake BRIMMER, 22.Fabio FERREIRA, 23.Scott NEVILLE, 27.JUANDE, 33.Liam REDDY (gk), 88.Neil KILKENNY
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 16.Tomislav MRCELA (promoted), 22.Fabio FERREIRA (promoted)
Outs: None
Unavailable: 2.Alex GRANT (illness – 1 week)
Sydney FC squad: 1.Andrew REDMAYNE (gk), 2.Aaron CALVER, 4.Alex WILKINSON, 6.Josh BRILLANTE, 7. Michael ZULLO, 8.Paulo RETRE, 9.Adam LE FONDRE, 10.Milos NINKOVIC, 11.Danny DE SILVA, 13.Brandon O’NEILL, 14.Alex BROSQUE, 16. Reza GHOOCHANNEJHAD, 17. Anthony CACERES, 18. Jacob TRATT, 20.Alex CISAK (gk), 22. Siem de JONG, 23. Rhyan GRANT, 25. Joel KING.
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 18. Jacob TRATT (promoted), 25. Joel KING (promoted)
Outs: None
Unavailable: 3.Ben WARLAND (ACL – indefinite), 12. Trent BUHAGIAR (ACL – indefinite), 19. Chris ZUVELA (ACL – indefinite).
#OneMission #OneGlory
