Alicia
Well-Known Member
By John Taylor
January 02, 2008 12:00am
HE'S the highest paid footballer in Australian sport but Sydney FC are not exactly getting value for money from their $1 million-a-year man Juninho.
The expectations were high on Sydney's marquee player to deliver.
But the Brazilian World Cup winner has played only 784 minutes, hasn't scored a goal and provided just four assists in his nine starts.
And while Juninho is heading to Wellington with the Sydney squad for Friday's crucial A-League game against Phoenix, there's no guarantee he'll be in the starting line-up.
Sydney coach John Kosmina yesterday admitted he had concerns over the little Brazilian's general condition.
"He has not played a lot of football since the game against David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy," Kosmina said.
"I am quite happy with the way the team has been ticking over.
"To bring him in you have to change the way you play.
"He's an attacking player and I am always concerned about the defensive match-ups in a game."
Sydney FC chairman Andrew Kemeny couldn't shed any light yesterday on whether Juninho's contract would be extended for another year.
"There's been no decision. It's hard to assess because he has been injured so much and he needs a shoulder operation," Kemeny said.
Kemeny would not divulge whether Perth's Simon Colosimo or Newcastle's Mark Bridge had signed for Sydney FC.
"It's a lot of talk. We have salary cap issues to tackle," he said. "We have serious injuries to Michael Enfield and Jacob Timpano.
"They are not playing and are on contract and we have other players coming off contract."
The club is also in discussions with Kosmina for next season.
Deemed the miracle worker, Kosmina said that he was happy to stay but added: "All I am concentrating on is seeing how far we go (this season)."
Kosmina, whose record stands at five wins, three draws and one loss since he replaced Branko Culina, believes 30 points will secure a playoff spot for Sydney, who are third on 27 points.
"We've got a very tough game coming up against Wellington," he said.
Sydney escaped with a late 1-1 draw against Wellington in round 13.
"They had national team players missing, we had players missing and we played the last 30 minutes with 10 men after Tony Popovic was sent off," Kosmina said.
Kosmina said that he would "sleep on it" whether to recall his English striker Michael Bridges who missed the last match because of flu.
"We have a session tomorrow morning before we fly there but he did complete a hard session yesterday after he had a virus."
Even Wellington, following their upset 3-2 victory over the Newcastle Jets, have a sniff at the playoffs.
"It's a good competition and everyone (apart from Perth) is in touching distance," Kosmina said.
One player who has caught the eye for Sydney in recent games is striker Brendon Santalab.
While Santalab has found it difficult to cement a place up front, he has scored two of the best goals of the season in matches against the Mariners and Adelaide.
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