Friday’s A-League 2016 season opener match is between Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory. The opening kick off is set to commence at 19:50 local time with the game to be played at Suncorp Stadium. View our preview and teams for the game between Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory.
Off field troubles have dogged Brisbane, but coach John Aloisi has done well to keep his core group of players together. He has strengthened the squad with the addition of former Socceroo midfielder Brett Holman and star striker will be keen to start the season strongly and improve on his 20 goal haul from last season.
Victory coach Kevin Muscat has strengthened his already powerful squad having added Spaniard Alan Baro to his defensive line. Star striker Besart Berisha relishes a match against his former club and has scored some cracking goals at Suncorp Stadium.
Victory and Roar played each other four times last season. Victory scored a 4-0 win at home before losing 5-0 in Brisbane.
The sides played out a 0-all draw in Melbourne, in the final round of the season, before Brisbane squashed Victory’s title hopes with a 2-1 elimination final win at Suncorp.
Sportsbet odds: Brisbane $2.40, Victory $2.75, draw $3.40.
Title: Brisbane ($8.00), Victory ($5.00 favourite).
Tip: Draw.
Teams:
Brisbane Roar FC squad: 1.Michael THEO (gk), 3.Luke DEVERE, 4.Daniel BOWLES, 5.Corey BROWN, 7.Thomas KRISTENSEN, 8.Jacob PEPPER, 9.Jamie MACLAREN, 10.Brett HOLMAN, 11.Tommy OAR, 13.Jade NORTH, 16.Nathan KONSTANDOPOULOS, 17.Matt MCKAY (c), 19.Jack HINGERT, 21.Jamie YOUNG (gk), 22.Thomas BROICH, 26.Nicholas D’AGOSTINO, 28.Brandon BORRELLO, 33.Joey KATEBIAN
Melbourne Victory squad: 2.Jason GERIA, 3.Scott GALLOWAY, 4.Nick ANSELL, 5.Daniel GEORGIEVSKI, 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 8.Besart BERISHA, 10.James TROISI, 11.Mitch AUSTIN, 13.Oliver BOZANIC, 14.Fahid BEN KHALFALLAH, 15.Alan BARO, 17.James DONACHIE, 19.George HOWARD, 20.Lawrence THOMAS (gk), 21.Carl VALERI (c), 22.Stefan NIGRO, 23.Jai INGHAM, 27.Alastair BRAY (gk)
