Brillante keen to refocus on Sky Blues’ title campaign

Josh Brillante has been dealt some cruel blows, but the Sydney FC midfielder says he can still play a leading role in the title race.

Sydney FC midfielder Josh Brillante’s future beyond this season is unclear

For the second time in 10 months football dealt Josh Brillante a cruel blow, but the Sydney FC midfielder insists he can still play a leading role in the Sky Blues’ title race.

Speaking for the first time since watching a move to Korean side Pohang Steelers fall through, Brillante said he is yet to address his future beyond this season, as his Sydney contract approaches its end.

Having been cut from the Socceroos by coach Bert van Marwijk at the start of June last year, Brillante had set his heart on a switch to Korea in February — to the extent of farewelling his teammates.

Dropped by coach Steve Corica while the saga played out, Brillante insisted he had no trouble refocusing on Sydney’s campaign once Pohang abandoned their interest.

“It’s what happens to a lot of players in football — there were a lot of ups and downs and a lot of things happening,” Brillante said.

“You just have to roll with the punches, it’s part of the game. It’s a busy period for us with three games in the past week, a couple more next week, which means we can just concentrate on the football.”

Asked if he anticipated remaining at Sydney next season, Brillante added: “I’m not sure yet — actually I’m not thinking about that at all. We’ve got the finals coming up and we’re still involved in the ACL. I’m just trying to focus on that and do the best we can.”

His immediate assignment is to wrestle with the newly crowned premiers Perth Glory tomorrow, with Sydney desperate for a win to keep Melbourne Victory at bay in the race for second spot — and to propel them into the finals.

“More so for ourselves, we want to go into the finals playing good football,” Brillante said.

“Momentum helps a lot in finals — where you sit on the table means nothing. It’s the confidence we can take from it that’s the biggest thing.

“Of course it’s disappointing (to lose the Premiers Plate to Perth), we always strive to win every game we can. We’re playing really well going into the finals and the big plate is the one we’re after.”

Sydney FC captain Alex Brosque looks increasingly likely to miss the showdown with Perth, as he battles pain in both feet in the wake of Saturday’s derby.

Already suffering plantar fasciitis in his left foot, Brosque hurt his right heel in scoring Sydney’s goal against Western Sydney at ANZ Stadium. Though tests have revealed no significant damage, the striker looks almost certain to be rested to avoid worsening the injury ahead of the finals.

“It’s improving every day, though it’s still quite sore,” Brosque said. “But I had scans on it and the results are quite positive.

“It’s still probably 50-50 for Perth, but we’ll see how it pulls up in the next couple of days.”

Brosque has labelled their last two A-League regular season games as “must-win” matches, as they try to earn a precious rest.

Both Sydney and the Victory have to play three Asian Champions League games through May, when the A-League finals series is held, with Steve Corica’s team facing two overseas trips. But the team which finishes second, won’t have to play in the opening week of the finals, which falls just a few days before the next midweek round of ACL group games.

“We’ve got two (A-League) games left and I think both of them are must-wins,” said Brosque, who announced he will end his career at the end of the current campaign.

“We’ve got a lot of travel with the Champions League and just the fact we’re competing in both competitions, I think that week off will be welcome to us and give us a bit of a chance to freshen up.”

The Sky Blues have already split two games in Perth, winning the first and losing the second.

“There’s a possibility of playing Perth at some stage in the finals series,” Brosque said. “If at home we get the result as well it will say a lot about us moving into the finals.”

Brosque said he was surprised by the reaction to his retirement announcement, with former teammates joining family, friends and clubmates in contacting him.

“The past 24 hours have been nice, the messages and things I’ve received from people. But now it will allow me just to focus back on the football and making sure that we finish top two and then we go on and win it,” he said.

The Daily Telegraph, AAP