Rising star Aziz Behich is confident Melbourne Heart FC has the depth to cover the absence of its Australian Under 23 representatives as they prepare to head to Dubai for the next two AFC Asian Qualifiers for the 2012 London Games.
Rising star Aziz Behich is confident Melbourne Heart FC has the depth to cover the absence of its Australian Under 23 representatives as they prepare to head to Dubai for the next two AFC Asian Qualifiers for the 2012 London Games.
Alongside Mate Dugandzic and Jason Hoffman, Behich was named in a 20-man squad which departs for the Middle East on Monday, looking to revive the Green and Gold-s aspirations of qualifying for London.
While the trio-s absence has sparked speculation over Heart-s ability to cope with their absence, Behich is confident in his team mates ability to fill the void he will leave in defence.
“Obviously, we have a number of younger boys in myself, Curtis Good and Brendan Hamill, but I think we have enough players to cover us while we will be gone,” he said.
With Heart-s match-up against Wellington Phoenix on Sunday looming as a key turning point in its campaign, a victory will be paramount to ensure the team can remain in the hunt for a top two berth.
Acknowledging the challenge posed by the Kiwi-outfit, Behich said Heart faces a difficult task in overcoming Ricki Herbert-s side on its home turf.
“It would be good to leave on a winning note. We need the three points this week as we haven-t had a win for a while,” he said.
“Wellington are going to be a strong side as they were in Morwell, and it won-t be an easy place to go either, travelling over there. We just need to play the way we have been playing over the last couple of weeks, try to play our game and hopefully hit the back of the net a couple of times.
“I think we-ve been playing well. It-s just a bit of decision making which has cost us some goals. Hopefully that will change this week and we can be on the other side of a result.”
