Alessandro Del Piero practises his free kicks. Picture: Stephen Cooper Source: The Australian
ALESSANDRO Del Piero has hinted that his contract situation with Sydney FC could be resolved soon but the superstar says his focus is solely on resurrecting the Sky Blues' ailing A-League campaign.
The club and Del Piero's management team, including brother Stefano, are believed to be negotiating terms for the optional second year of his two-year contract.
There has been speculation Del Piero, 38, will leave the last-placed Sydney FC at the end of the season. "Everything is clear for me and the club ... we can do earlier than what we think about the contract," said Del Piero yesterday.
"It's not a stress here for me ... I want to put all my knowledge and my heart into (games). My brother (can) talk about that (contract) - it's his problem, not mine.
"I've spent a really good time here ... the best thing for me and for the club ... is to concentrate about the games."
Sydney FC has just three wins and faces a tough three games over the holiday period starting with competition leader Central Coast at Allianz Stadium tonight.
The Sky Blues then face tough road trips against second-placed Adelaide on New Year's Eve and Perth on January 5. Central Coast coach Graham Arnold is expecting the Sky Blues to have revenge on their minds.
Bottom-placed Sydney lost 7-2 to the Mariners in the teams' last encounter in round five.
Sydney has since replaced coach Ian Crook with Arnold's friend Frank Farina and the Mariners' boss has enormous respect for the new Sky Blues' mentor, who is in charge of his third game with the battling glamour club.
"Frankie ... one thing about his teams is they're well organised and he'll get them fired up," Arnold said. "There'll probably be a bit of talk in the dressing room about revenge after the last occasion we played them.
Arnold insists his team won't be dwelling on the 7-2 rout.
"They're at home this time and they've got a different manager in charge now."
Del Piero - who looks to have overcome his hamstring troubles, with the Italian training more than 30 minutes longer than his teammates yesterday - said the 7-2 thumping, which he missed because of injury, was just one of those things football throws up.
Del Piero, who played 90 minutes in last week's 2-1 loss to Newcastle, thrilled a big crowd of Sydney FC faithful at training yesterday by slotting free-kicks from the edge of the area before working on left-foot shooting.
"This week is good," said Del Piero of his right hamstring.
Sydney will again be without injured defender Pascal Bosschaart (calf) and midfielder Paul Reid (adductor) but will be boosted by the return of Jason Culina.
Farina, who has blasted his players following losses to Western Sydney and then Newcastle last week, has been pleased with the response from his troops ahead of the Mariners clash.
"It's not nice for a player to cop a verbal lashing but, when it's deserved, it will happen and it was deserved last week and the week before (Western Sydney)."
AAP
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