Perth Glory recorded their first win of the Isuzu UTE Men’s A-Leagues season at the third attempt on Sunday, beating the Central Coast Mariners 2-1, but the biggest talking point was the absence of striker Bruno Fornaroli.
Having failed to find the net in the opening two games of the campaign, Fornaroli’s position in the starting line-up was in doubt. When the team news came out for the clash in Gosford, the Uruguayan was nowhere to be seen. Social media instantly lit up, causing the club’s official account to explain his absence – Fornaroli was injured.
Not long afterwards, there was a reply to the club on Instagram from the player stating that he was “100% fit and ready” and the reason given was “wrong information”. The comment was later removed by either the club or Fornaroli but the damage was done. While all focus should have been on the game, it instead shifted to a dispute between the club and the player.
Glory came from a goal down to take all three points, with club officials no doubt breathing a sigh of relief given the obvious narrative had they lost. Afterwards, head coach Ruben Zadkovich was asked about the situation in the press conference, and he reiterated the line about Fornaroli’s injury.
“He was just unavailable,” said Zadkovich. “He ruled himself out with a with a rib injury on Friday, so couldn’t finish the final session, which meant that he wasn’t available for selection.”
Fornaroli, who had a modified pre-season programme due to an ankle problem, is believed to have been advised at training that he would not be in the starting line-up against the Mariners. He remained in Perth alongside captain Mustafa Amini, another big name sidelined through injury.
With a reworked coaching staff, countless new players, and five away games to start the season, it was unsurprising to see Glory get off to a slow start. They lost by single goals to both the Western Sydney Wanderers and Newcastle Jets, the latter in injury time when they had an extra man on the park.
Central Coast Mariners (0.63) 1-2 (2.20) Perth Glory pic.twitter.com/CBxYqHkdP7
— A-League Men xG (@ALeague_xG) October 23, 2022
This week though, they showed good character to overturn a 1-0 deficit against the Mariners. Glory had more shots on goal than their opponents and goalkeeper Liam Reddy was rarely called into action, despite plenty of late pressure from the hosts. Experienced acquisitions Ryan Williams, Ben Azubel, Salim Khelifi, Mark Beevers and Aaron McEneff have found their feet, and there have been positive contributions from youngsters Zach Duncan, Luke Ivanovic and Giordano Colli in particular.
However, every Glory supporter is now distracted from all of that by the Fornaroli situation, and they rightly want to know what the future holds for one of the competition’s best ever goalscorers. At 35 years of age and in the final year of a lucrative contract, Fornaroli isn’t the future for a club beginning a much needed rebuild. But few would have predicted that he would be on the outer just three games into the season.
It is in the best interests of all parties for a swift resolution to be found and unless Fornaroli makes peace with Zadkovich, he could have played his last game in purple.
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