Tim Hoogland and Robbie Kruse remain in the mix to return for Friday night’s highly-anticipated Melbourne Derby at AAMI Park, Melbourne Victory coach Carlos Salvachua has confirmed.
Hoogland returned to training last week, while Kruse missed the match against Glory after experiencing hamstring tightness – Salvachua said he’ll hold off finalising his selection until match day.
“They trained without problems and we will see tomorrow,” Salvachua said.
“We have 18-19 players to choose from, we need to decide who is in the first eleven, and we will see tomorrow.”
Marco Rojas spot in the starting line-up is also being weighed up, with a quick turnaround to Tuesday’s opening Champions League match against Chiangrai United a major factor.
“Every day he is getting better, because he has now trained one week with the team. He played a few minutes last week in Perth.”
WATCH: Carlos Salvachua press conference
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Leigh Broxham has been ruled out of the final Melbourne Derby of the regular season with a calf strain, but could be back following the bye.
“Maybe a week, no more than two weeks with him with the problems in his calf.”
It’s been a gruelling fortnight for the team with five games in 15 days, including trips to Adelaide, Perth and Japan.
The squad has spent more time in airplanes than on the training track, but Salvachua said he is pleased with what he’s seeing on the pitch.
“This is our first week of training together, just three sessions, but it is better than last week.”
“In the last minute in Perth it was really sad but thinking about what happened within the game there was a good attitude and now we try to win the next game.”
Friday night’s Melbourne Derby kicks-off at AAMI Park at 7:30pm.
