Sydney FC’s National Youth League team go into tonight’s final Thanhnien Cup group game against Malaysia under 21’s, confident of securing the win which will put them top of Group B.
Sydney FC-s National Youth League team go into tonight’s final Thanhnien Cup group game against Malaysia under 21-s, confident of securing the win which will put them top of Group B.
The Sky Blues have already qualified for the semi-finals of the international tournament after their 2-1 win over Laos and will rest some players for the Malaysia tie.
Head Coach Brian Dene is happy to blood some of the younger members of the squad against a Malaysian outfit who won their first game (against Laos) 4-2 .
“They play a very similar style to Laos which is different to how we play,” said Dene.
“We have a lot of strength in depth in our squad and I think if we play as well as we played the last time, then we will get a good result.”
A win would put Sydney top of their group and see them avoid a semi-final against tournament favourites Vietnam, who demolished Singapore 6-0 in their opening group match.
“There are big raps on Vietnam at the moment, after they did really well in their first game,” he continued.
“They play after us tonight, so we-ll watch them again and hopefully get a good idea of what we need to do.
“But the important thing is the game against Malaysia and that we do well,” he concluded.
Striker Nikola Taneski will also miss the game with an ankle injury sustained against Laos. He will be monitored and assessed on his availability closer to Friday-s semi.
But midfielder Peter Triantis is confident after the players made an immediate impact in the Laos win.
“It was a very positive result first up and a lot of the boys played really well,” said the 20 year old man of the match (vs Laos).
“I only met some of the players a week ago so this trip has really helped us bond and get to know each other and we couldn-t have asked for a better start.”
“We set ourselves to win the tournament, we-ve got out of the group and it will build character for a lot of our younger players.”
Sydney-s game against Malaysia kicks off at 19:30 AEDT and fans can follow the action by logging onto Sydney FCs twitter account.
The Sky Blues longer participation in the tournament means their first game of the season against Canberra this weekend will have to be postponed and they will kick off their NYL campaign at ANZ Stadium prior to Sydney-s A-League game vs Perth Glory
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