Melbourne City coach John van ‘t Schip hopes Asian Cup will spark further interest in A-League

MELBOURNE City coach John van’t Schip hopes the success of January’s Asian Cup translates in to greater interest in the returning A-League.

South Korean fans wave to their country's soccer team after the AFC Asian Cup semifinal soccer match between South Korea and Iraq in Sydney, Australia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

MELBOURNE City coach John van’t Schip hopes the success of the Asian Cup translates in to greater interest in the A-League — starting with his side’s clash against Western Sydney at AAMI Park on Sunday.

The game is City’s first since the January 4 loss to Central Coast.

Since then the team has been on a two-week training camp in Abu Dhabi where it played two friendly matches and rubbed shoulders with Manchester City’s players, and has also signed two new players — left-sided defender Jack Clisby from Perth and Singaporean central defender Safuwan Baharudin — both of whom have been named in Sunday’ squad.

South Korea fans get in to the Asian Cup spirit. Will the A-League benefit?

New Australian marquee player Josh Kennedy isn’t likely to make his highly-anticipated debut — and even if he does it will only be from the bench — but that hasn’t dampened enthusiasm for the Wanderers clash, which is hugely important for City considering that its next four games are against the top four sides.

And van’t Schip hopes that the excitement generated by Saturday night’s Asian Cup final between Australia and South Korea in Sydney will entice Melbourne’s sporting public to come out in droves for his side’s game this afternoon.

“You can see all the young boys and girls playing on the pitches around Melbourne, when I drive around,” van’t Schip said.

“It’s an excitement that’s good for the game, it grows the game, it will certainly attract more people to watch football. It will be massive for the development of the game itself.”

James Brown (knee), Mate Dugandzic (knee) and Rob Wielaert (ankle) will all miss today’s game as well as next Saturday’s derby against Victory.

Brown’s injury was apparent before the A-League break, but got worse in Abu Dhabi and he was forced home early as a result.

Wielaert injured his ankle in the second friendly in Abu Dhabi and van’t Schip described Dugandzic’s injury as knee “irritation”.

Goalkeeper Tando Velaphi (suspended) will also miss, but Jason Hoffman returns from injury and Jacob Melling is back from a suspension of his own.

City is sixth on the ladder, four points ahead of seventh-placed Brisbane and 12 ahead of Western Sydney, which is currently last.

The Wanderers have made several changes to their squad throughout January, including the signing of Japanese attacking midfielder Yojiro Takahagi, who is set to make his debut today.

Van’t Schip said, without the distraction of the Asian Champions League finals and Club World Cup, he expected the Wanderers to improve in the second half of the season.

Originally published as Melbourne City coach John van ‘t Schip hopes Asian Cup will spark further interest in A-League