Stefanutto Shoots for Glory with Roar

Animaniacfootball.blogspot.com - SHANE Stefanutto scored for Brisbane Roar in the AFC Champions League showdown against Korea's Ulsan Hyundai at Suncorp Stadium on Tuesday night. You can be certain the 32-year-old left-back will be trying to do the same at the same venue again tomorrow, but with a view to ending up on the winning team this time around.

The Koreans won the game 2-1 but that's in the past - the slate has been wiped clean. Stefanutto and his teammates have their sights firmly focused on winning the A-League premiership tomorrow for the second consecutive year. To do that and become the first club to win back-to-back titles, the Roar has got to beat a team which has never appeared in a final, Perth Glory.

Although the Roar only trained for the first time since Tuesday's loss yesterday afternoon, Stefanutto, who has played three times for Australia, said it wasn't only then that the preparation had started.

"I think in the back of our minds we've been preparing all week to be honest," he said. "We had that game (against Ulsan Hyundai) of course and we were focused on that but as soon as it finished we all turned our attention to the grand final."

Steffanutto said he was enjoying the build up to the grand final a lot more than he did 12 months ago. "It was all a bit of big blur last year because it was such a new experience for us," he said. "I think it got the better of me. We are all enjoying it this time around and are looking forward to enjoying playing in the game."That means doing what we've done all season - play entertaining football and hopefully let the result take care of itself."

Stefanutto said all the talk about the future of their coach hasn't been an issue this week. "That talk has been non existent," he said. "Nothing has been said at all - all the talk has been about the preparation for the final."

The Glory enter the match as the underdog even though they've lost just three of their past 18 games. But coach Ian Ferguson said that was of no concern to him or any of the players. "We've been slaughtered from day one," he said. "We're in a grand final and we're still getting it, (people saying) we've just got a long ball game or we play unattractive football. We're there and that's the main thing."

A-LEAGUE FINAL

ROAR v GLORY

At Suncorp Stadium, tomorrow 4pm

(source : www.news-mail.com.au)