Melbourne Victory striker Archie Thompson is relishing the prospect of returning to Hyundai A-League action, starting with Saturday night’s big game against Brisbane Roar at AAMI Park.
Melbourne Victory striker Archie Thompson is relishing the prospect of returning to Hyundai A-League action, starting with Saturday night’s big game against Brisbane Roar at AAMI Park.
The 34-year-old has spent the past fortnight away on Socceroos duty, scoring four goals – including a hat-trick in the 9-0 rout of Guam – to guide Australia into next year’s East Asian Cup.
Thompson admitted he had found the workload tough in Hong Kong, and is looking forward to getting back into the Victory line-up – provided they can find a place for him.
“I think they’ve actually been doing really well – that’s the scary thing. I’m thinking I’m going to come back with no spot,” Thompson said after training at Gosch’s Paddock on Thursday.
“But I’m excited to be back with the boys, I’m excited by the football we’re playing and I want to be part of it.
“Last week was tough. Four games in a week, it’s hard yakka, it doesn’t matter what opposition you’re playing against.
“And today, coming to training, I got put in the starting line-up – I tell you, I almost substituted myself out of it,” he joked.
The last time they clashed with Brisbane, Victory were beaten 5-0 by Ange Postecoglou’s former side, but since then the two club’s fortunes have diverged – with Victory climbing the ladder on the back of some excellent form, while Roar have been in freefall.
Thompson said he was confident the Victory’s early season form would be forgotten the more the team gelled.
“It was only Round 2. If you start thinking ‘we lost a Round 2 match, that’s the end of our season’, well, that’s not the attitude we should be having,” he said.
“We always knew that we were going to get better. It was a matter of time. Now we’re coming to terms with how everyone plays, and you can see it starting to work on the weekend.”
And the evergreen forward said he is expecting a fired-up Roar for Saturday’s match.
“They’re (Brisbane) up against the wall at the moment,” he said.
“I think I saw (Erik)Paartalu talking about how it could be a defining game for them, so they’re going to be up for it, too.
“It’s going to be an exciting match.”
