Thu 25th Jan 2007

The Newcastle Jets departed Newcastle United Sports Club for Sydney Thursday afternoon to face their fate and head coach Gary van Egmond believes that the team is up to the challenge.

“I think everyone knows what is at hand this weekend. We are under no illusions that it is going to be very tough playing against the reigning Champions. We are going down to Sydney today and will be playing tomorrow and its going to be a very, very tough game. The players have been good this season and have got themselves in the position where they are in the mix to win some china. Come tomorrow we will be very well prepared.”

Sydney FC have pitched themselves as the fighters recently. They certainly will hope to live up to that image with 1 point from the last 3 games, compared with 7 points earned by the Jets. However, van Egmond does not completely buy into the battler image.

“Most of the games that [Sydney] play they dominate possession, as do we. That’s where the game will won or lost. There’ll be a period there where you’ve got to win your individual battle and that will be paramount in the first 15-20 minutes,” said van Egmond, “I think with Terry Butcher their got more of a mindset of battling due to the way he likes to play his football and the way he did play his football but at the same token they’ve got a number of players in their team who like to put their foot on the pall and who can pass and keep possession well. I think Talay is a big loss for them and that will put more pressure on Corica than usual.”

But just the same, he is not expecting it to be a stroll in the park either.

“It’s finals football. I’m expecting everyone to be roughed up and I’m expecting everyone to stand up as far as the Newcastle Jets are concerned. I’d be surprised if any of our players take a backward step this week.”

Gary was delighted with the performance of the team in last Friday’s do or die match against Melbourne Victory and the starting eleven players have gone a long way to ensuring their starting places on the pitch at Aussie Stadium.

“I think when you play like that most of the game with 11 players you form a real bond and I think the players that took part in that game on Friday really stood up. As a coach that is what you are looking for. I know that is going to happen again tomorrow night with those 11 players. At this stage I’d say we are definitely going with them.”

Van Egmond has confirmed that Stuart Musialik will start the game despite a shoulder injury suffered in a fall against Melbourne last Friday. However, as usual, van Egmond is reluctant to disclose which of his strikers will be starting the game, preferring to wait until more video analysis is done before making the final decision.

The determination of the team to claw their way back from last place in Round 7 to 3rd at season’s end has exposed the team to the mentality needed to play under pressure and perform. Captain Paul Okon concedes that Sydney FC have an older squad but knows what is expected from the more experienced players in the team to help the younger players settle and perform.

“You don’t really want to be telling other players what they should be doing or what they shouldn’t be doing. It is a lot easier when the whole team is playing well, certainly for the younger players, as not all the responsibility falls onto them,” said Okon, “I think that’s where the older guys in the team need to step up and make sure that these younger guys can just relax and perform individually and I think the rest just falls into place.”

“Our mental approach last week was spot on. We knew that we needed to win the game. For us it was a finals game because had we lost we would be gone,” said Okon, “We have proven to ourselves that, being put in that situation, we got a response. So even though we don’t need to score four goals tomorrow night we certainly need to put in, if not a similar performance, an even better performance.”

Van Egmond agrees that the determination and work ethic of the players shown in the latter part of the season will stand them in good stead for the finals, and it could be the factor which see them progress further through the finals series than they were able to in the inaugural season.

“We’ve been talking about the mental resolve of the players. I think we’re getting better as the year goes on,” said van Egmond, “I thought against Central Coast we didn’t play extremely well but we won. I thought we were average against Perth but we pulled two goals out in stoppage time. So this never die attitude, this mental ability to really push themselves when the chips are really down is going to go a long way in the top four finals series.”

With 9 coaches confirmed as going down to Sydney and with many more people going down by other means, a massive show of support is expected for the team tomorrow night.

Newcastle Jets Squad:

40. Ante Covic (GK), 20. Ben Kennedy (GK) 2. Steve Eagleton, 3. Jade North, 5. Milton Rodriguez, 6. Andrew Durante, 8. Matt Thompson, 9. Vaughan Coveny, 10. Nick Carle 12. Paul Okon (Captain) 13. Adam D’Apuzzo, 14. Stuart Musialik, 16. Labinot Haliti, 18. Joel Griffiths, 19. Mark Bridge, 22. Steven Old, 24. Paul Kohler, 25. Tim Brown (3 to be omitted)

Promoted:

13. Adam D’Apuzzo, 16. Labinot Haliti, 22. Steven Old,

Not Selected: 11. Tarek Elrich 17. Tolgay Ozbey

Unavailable: 4. Craig Deans (injured – out for season), 14. Jobe Wheelhouse (injured – out for season)