The Brazilian made his way on to the training pitch this morning and although he did not take part in the full session with the rest of his colleagues, both the player himself and his manager were incredibly upbeat about his prospects.

It had been feared that shoulder damage suffered against Adelaide United could leave the former Middlesbrough man sidelined for up to two months but the World Cup winner has made good progress this week and is desperate to play.

Speaking to au.fourfourtwo.com after training, he said: “It is better than I expected. I have just started to train a little bit and then I see if I can make the next game.

“I didn’t realize it was too serious when I fell (in round three against Adelaide). I thought I’d just hurt the muscle but it wasn’t only the muscle, it was tendons and ligaments.

“It’s always difficult when you are out and when you expect to play all the games. In the end they said about four or five weeks (out injured).

"I don’t think it will be that long. I have improved a lot quicker so I hope to miss only two games."

“I am already feeling okay. To me I want to play the next game but it’s still a little bit of a risk to be injured so we may take it easy for one more week and then I’ll be much fitter to play the next game.”

Juninho was all the more disappointed to miss out against Perth because from what he saw against Adelaide in his last match he feels the team is heading in the right direction.

He said: “I think the team played very well, the way we are looking to play. I think now we must start to get points.

“I am enjoying it here so far. I love the city, we have very nice facilities, my family is here which makes me happier. Everything is going well for me.”

Coach Branko Culina is refusing to rule Juninho out of the Wellington Phoenix match at this point. ""Next week? I thought he was available this week," he said.

Having literally flown in from Melbourne after watching son Jason performing for the Socceroos against Argentina, Culina was delighted to arrive at training to see Juninho back in training gear.

“We’ll have to have another chat with him," said Culina. "Whether it’s this week or next week it’s going to be great to have him back - such a great player but a great club man as well.

"He could have taken the easy way out and said I need to rest to make sure I’m 100 per cent but he’s willing to put himself about for the sake of the team. I respect that.

“We have another training session tomorrow. He’s shown significant improvement over the last 24 hours and hopefully he’ll continue to improve. We need to get our best team on the park, and when we do – Juninho is part of that – then we’ll be a very, very good team.”