Our team is in for Saturday’s season opener against Wellington. See who’s in and who’s out of this week’s side!
A strong pre-season and a short injury list has allowed John van’t Schip to select a full-strength side to head across the Tasman for Round 1 of the A-League.
City will be without Tim Cahill for the first match of the season with the Socceroos’ all-time scorer fronting up for the national team as they continue their journey to Russia 2018 in Saudi Arabia.
The squad’s impressive performance against the Wanderers in the Westfield FFA Cup suggests John van’t Schip will look for continuity against the Nix, with his starters from the contest fit and firing for Round 1.
What role new marquee man Nicolas Colazo will play is still up in the air with van’t Schip confirming on Thursday that although our new marquee man has looked ‘excellent’ since arriving in Melbourne, his last full competitive match was in Argentina in May.
The squad depart for Wellington on Friday with the 18-man squad to be cut down to 16 90 minutes before kick-off.
We’ll be holding a special fan screening of the match on Saturday afternoon. Join your fellow City fans in Melbourne at The Mountain View Hotel, 70 Bridge Road, Richmond from 4.30pm with the match kicking off at 5.35pm. Join our event on Facebook!
Melbourne City FC Squad: 1. Thomas Sorensen (GK), 2. Manny Muscat, 3. Josh Rose, 4. Connor Chapman, 6. Osama Malik, 8. Neil Kilkenny, 9. Nicolas Colazo, 10. Anthony Caceres, 11. Bruce Kamau, 12. Nick Fitzgerald, 14. Daniel Arzani, 18. Paulo Retre, 20. Dean Bouzanis (GK), 21. Ruon Tongyik, 22. Michael Jakobsen, 23. Bruno Fornaroli, 26. Luke Brattan, 27. Fernando Brandan ***two to be omitted***
Outs: Nil
Ins: Nil
Unavailable: 7. Corey Gameiro (ACL – season), 17. Tim Cahill (international duty), 28. Steve Kuzmanovski (international duty)
Not Selected: 5. Ivan Franjic (fitness)
