Kevin Muscat has confirmed the worst for Melbourne Victory fans, revealing that star man James Troisi will miss Sunday night’s huge semi-final against Sydney FC.
Muscat confirmed that Troisi, who has been struggling with a soft tissue injury, will not make the trip north to Nestrata Jubilee Stadium.
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The 30-year old played a massive part in last year’s corresponding fixture, scoring to help Victory to a famous 3-2 win.
Muscat said while it was a close call, he couldn’t afford to risk the playmaker in such a big game.
“Jimmy won’t make it tomorrow,” Muscat told reporters.
“He’s very, very close but the decision we’ve made along with Jimmy with his buy in and experience going into these games tells me he’s not quite 100 per cent, not quite playing regularly.
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“You’re better off with players that have been so we’ve made that decision together. Jimmy will stay in Melbourne and watch the game from here.
“He pushed himself of course he did. He worked ever so hard, we had enough medical staff here in Melbourne working with him but as I said very, very close.”
The defending Champions will take heart from the fact they know how to win in Kogarah having seen off the Sky Blues 2-1 back in Round 5.
Throw in that fateful night when Terry Antonis made his famous run through the Sydney defence and Victory have a lot of reasons to feel confident.
For Muscat however any chance of success rests solely with their meticulous preparation.
“The level of work and detail we’ve put into this game, our focus is on what we need to do and play to our strengths,” he said.
“We’ve maintained that we’ve been working away, getting stronger and stronger, better and better in our performance.
“To give ourselves the best opportunity it needs to be that way in terms of the detail for training. We’ll go across there buoyed with our result from last week and our performance from last week and looking forward to it.”
