Ahead of Thursday night’s AFC Champions League 2 match against Eastern SC, Ufuk Talay has revealed to the press that marquee signing Douglas Costa will make his debut for Sydney FC.
The Brazilian arrived about a month ago and has been the talk of the town with fans eager to catch a glimpse of him, and now they have the chance with a debut surely to follow tomorrow evening at jubilee Stadium.
“Douglas [Costa] has been working hard and he is a great professional and I think he’s fantastic in the changeroom, both in lifting spirits and expectation at the same time,” Ufuk Talay said.
“We’ll push him as far as he’ll go but I am very happy with what he has been doing at the moment and yes he will be playing tomorrow.
“He’s in a good place at the moment. Is he fully match fit? No, but what he gives at the moment will definitely be good for us.”
Rhyan Grant is entering his 15th season at Sydney FC and is no stranger to Asian campaigns, being the Sky Blues’ most capped continental player.
However, this will be different for him, wearing the armband for the first time in this competition.
“I’ve been here a while but as you said, this is a huge honour for me and gives me a chance to step up and be a leader and so far I have been enjoying it.
“At the moment we have a good mix of young players that keep you on your toes and then some more experienced boys that help me out too and hopefully we can have a good campaign and then a good season,” Grant said,
Ufuk Talay is also mindful that the competition that was named the AFC Cup last year has changed. Now, the opposition are tougher, however it doesn’t mean that his side will deviate from their end goal.
“It’s not the same competition as last season and we now have some good opposition in here and we look at it as a challenge.
“They [Eastern SC] are one of the superior teams in Hong Kong in the way that they play and they have some good foreigners too,” he continued.
“However, for us as much as we analyse the opponent, it’s very important that we play the way that we want to.
“We’re playing at home and we want to take the game to them and make sure we maximise every opportunity we can to start the campaign off with three points.”
Match Details
Sydney FC v Eastern SC
AFC Champions League 2 Matchday 1
Thursday 19th September 2024
Jubilee Stadium, Kogarah, NSW
Kick Off: 8:00pm AEST
Gates Open: 7:00pm AEST
Broadcast Live: 10Play
Tickets: Click Here
