MVFC Blog

Tonight’s game against China will not be televised. Not here, nor there. I have searched high and low. I’ve even gone through the laborious effort of translating Chinese pages into English through Google and turned up with nothing. It appears that the Melbourne vs. China match won’t even be showing in China.

But of course, if you know otherwise, please let us know by leaving a comment.

In any case, I thought it would be a fitting time for a pre-match roundup. This game is a friendly, and Merrick has pointed out that the result doesn’t matter. The Chinese are more likely to care about obtaining a win than we are: with the Asian Cup just a few days away, they will be keen to gain confidence from a solid win tonight. A loss would hurt us, but it would hurt them more.

The Victory squad is by no means its A-team. New recruits Kaz Patafta and Matthew Kemp will both get their first game, the latter buffering up the defence while Patafta will join Caceres and Allsopp up front to give Melbourne a three-pronged attack. The midfield will have to do without Brebner, who’s injured - but tall man Ljubo Milicevic, normally a central defender, will step up to support Muscat and Pantelidis in the midfield. Theoklitos keeps his spot in goals.

The fact that Milicevic is being put in midfield is somewhat telling, as it means that the Leijer/Vargas combo will once again be at the centre of the Victory defence, with Keenan and Kemp filling out the flanks. One of the questions this season will be whether Leijer and Vargas manage to keep their central spots, given the crowding of defensive players after the signings of Milicevic, Keenan and Kemp. Players are going to have to work very hard to earn their place in defence.