With Sibongiseni

It is bound to be a heavy start for Adelaide United as they open their Australian A-League campaign against a team who have bossed them in the past seven meetings, defending champions Sydney FC at Coopers Stadium this evening.

Sydney have been dominant in Australian football in the past few years and should give Marco Kurz’s team a hard time.

But Sydney lost two important players in Adrian Mierzejewski and Bobo, who was top goal scorer last season. This suggested they could be weakened but Steve Corica moved swiftly to find suitable replacements. He got Ajax Amsterdam midfielder Siem de Jong on loan and experienced striker Adam le Fondre from Bolton Wanderers in England. It remains to be seen if the duo will hit the ground running.

Adelaide finished fifth last season and will look to improve but I predict a win for Sydney. Pool name: S6 V1 P1 M1: Hvidovre v HB Koge. Easy win for Koge Tip: Koge win = 3 M2: Rayo Majadahonda v Sporting Gijon. No winner. Tip: Draw = 2 M3: Almeria v Reus Deportou. Win for home side. Tip: Almeria win = 1 M4: Real Salt Lake v New England Revolution. Lake to sink Revolution Tip: Lake win = 1 M5: Adelaide United v Sydney FC. Previewed. Tip: Sydney win = 3 M6: Kashiwa Reysol v Nagoya Grampus. Grampus will be grumpy at end of match.

Tip: Reysol win = 1