Brazilian Reds Suffer ACL Woe

BRAZILIAN duo Cristiano and Alemao have failed to make the cut in Adelaide United's 25-man squad for the forthcoming Asian Champions League campaign.

Argentinean Marcos Flores has been joined by left sided Brazilian Cassio and English born striker Lloyd Owusu as the Reds' three foreigners, while young Korean midfielder Inseob Shin is the additional Asian import.

United have also included four players from the club's National Youth League squad, naming striker Evan Kostopoulos and defensive duo Perry Mitris and Dane Milovanovic, while Nick Munro takes up the third goalkeeper spot.

Brazilian duo Cristiano and Alemao have been left out of the squad, as clubs can only have three imports in the ACL, but with United submitting 25 players out of a maximum 30, Aurelio Vidmar can make up to five changes to his squad before the February 17 cut off as he aims to repeat the club's feat of reaching the final in 2008.

"It's never easy to make decisions like that because the ACL is a big tournament and every player wants to play in it," Vidmar said.

"Unfortunately it's a decision we have to make and that's the way we chose to go."

While the Reds have submitted their initial squad list, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) regulations do allow the club to make changes to its player roster up until a week before its first match of the competition, which is on February 24 against reigning title holders, Pohang Steelers at Hindmarsh Stadium.

The Reds' opening match at home against Pohang will be followed by a trip to China to face Shandong Luneng before home and away matches against Japan's Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

A trip to Korea to tackle the Steelers in the penultimate Match Day will culminate with United back at Hindmarsh Stadium for a clash against Shandong.

ADELAIDE UNITED FC - AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2010 SQUAD

1.Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk)

2.Robert CORNTHWAITE

4.Iain FYFE

5.Daniel MULLEN

6.CASSIO

7.Lucas PANTELIS

8.Kristian SARKIES

10.Adam HUGHES

11.Lloyd OWUSU

12.Paul REID

13.Travis DODD (c)