Melbourne City defends decision to play team of youngsters in shock Australia Cup loss
Melbourne City wasn’t willing to risk the fitness of a host of underdone senior players in an Australia Cup round-of-32 game, and paid a hefty price.
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A-League champions Melbourne City have defended their controversial decision to field a youth team in the club’s shock 2-0 Australia Cup loss to NPL NSW outfit APIA Leichhardt.
Having entered the Cup at the round-of-32 stage, City’s bid to reach the last 16 ended on Tuesday night in wet conditions at Leichhardt Oval.
City’s starting side included only one player – 19-year-old striker Max Caputo – that started in last season’s A-League grand final, with the oldest player in the team being 21-year-old midfielder Alessandro Lopane.
City’s squad – which had an average age of 17.6 – was otherwise almost entirely made of teenagers, including 15-year-old substitute Akeem Gerald, from the club’s NPL Victoria second division team.
City’s decision not to use almost all of the club’s first-choice players led to accusations that the club had treated the Cup with contempt and had shown APIA a lack of respect.
However, City’s football director Michael Petrillo said the club had little choice but to field a team made up entirely of young players due to injuries and a late start to pre-season training.
“There was no way we were ready,” Petrillo said
“We came back to training really late (July 15). If it (the Cup game) was in maybe another two weeks, then we probably would have played another four or five of the senior players.”
Petrillo said the club wasn’t willing to gamble on the fitness of players with City’s AFC Champions League Elite campaign set to start in about six weeks’ time.
“We would have played anyone that was ready but we didn’t want to take any risks because we’re a thin squad, we’ve got to play on two fronts (Champions League and A-League), and we need to make sure everyone’s fit and well, particularly when we had a lot of injuries last season,” he said.
“We don’t want to go down the same track again this season.”
Petrillo was confident a host of regulars, including captain Aziz Behich, Joe Marston Medal winner Mathew Leckie, defenders Kai Trewin and Nathaniel Atkinson, midfielder Andreas Kuen and goalkeeper Patrick Beach, would be available for a couple of trial games City is hopeful of scheduling in late August.
The club is also planing to sign two foreign attacking players in the upcoming weeks in a bid to further strengthen its squad.
Australia Cup round-of-16 (games to be played August 9-13): South Melbourne v Auckland FC, Avondale v APIA Leichhardt, Brisbane City v Olympic Kingsway, Heidelberg United v Western Sydney Wanderers, Nunawading City v Wellington Phoenix, Sydney United 58 v Sydney FC, Cooks Hill United FC v Newcastle Jets, Metro Stars v Macarthur FC.
Originally published as Melbourne City defends decision to play team of youngsters in shock Australia Cup loss
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