CARL READY FOR WAR TO STAY ALIVE
MELBOURNE Victory captain Carl Valeri goes into tomorrow’s A-League semi-final with Sydney FC not knowing whether it will be his last match.
The out-of-contract 33-year-old will defer a decision on his playing future until next month, preferring to focus his energies on lengthening Victory’s campaign into a grand final.
“There’s plenty of time to think about (retirement). In the A-League there’s two months of off-season,” Valeri said yesterday.
“My main focus is getting Melbourne Victory into the grand final.
“My body feels good. Those decisions I’ll make with my family in the time I have off.”
Valeri, who spent a decade in Italian football while earning a halfcentury of Socceroos caps, returned to the A-League with Victory in 2014.
He helped the club win the premiership, championship and FFA Cup in 2015.
If he is to grow Victory’s collection of silverware in the next fortnight, he said the club needed to prepare for war; as it was in last year’s grand final.
Victory lost that match on penalties — with Valeri missing a spot kick in the shootout — and the native Canberran said it would be no different tomorrow night.
“It is going to be a fight. It is going to be a battle,” he said, “When I think back (to last year’s grand final) I think of a battle.
“I think of a well-fought battle and the penalty shootout obviously stays in your mind.
“It’s an unfair way to lose, but someone’s got to win and someone’s got to lose. I can only commend the boys on the battle we put up that day.
“We’re going to have to do more on Saturday.”
Victory is on a sevenmatch losing streak against the Sky Blues but only one of those losses has been by more than a solitary goal.
The tightness of the rivalry means Victory is preparing for the possibility of extra-time, and Valeri said the fourth-place finishers would be ready to go the distance.
“I haven’t seen too many teams run us into the ground,” he said. “We’ll definitely be up for the physical side of things if it does go the distance.
“We’re going to grasp (this opportunity) and throw everything we can at it and leave nothing in the tank.”