MELBOURNE City coaches will wait until next week to determine whether international signing Robert Koren will play in the club’s FFA Cup match against Sydney FC.
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City will square off against Sydney in its round of 32 clash at Ballarat’s Morshead Park on August 12.
Koren landed in Melbourne last Saturday for a two-year contract with City after four years with English Premier League club Hull City.
The Slovenian midfielder, 33, captained his country in the 2010 World Cup and will fill City’s international marquee position for the 2014-15 A-League season.
Koren trained for the first time in his new colours on Tuesday.
City manager John van’t Schip was cagey about the prospect of his latest signing taking to Morshead Park, but didn’t rule him out of contention when speaking to the Melbourne City FC website on Tuesday.
“We can’t say anything about that now because it’s just one training (session),” van’t Schip said when asked if Koren would be available for the Westfield FFA Cup.
“We have to see how it develops in the coming week and then we can consider if he is ready or not. We have to be careful of course and learn from the past with Orlando (Engelaar), so I think that it’s important that he shows he is fit because he has to be fit to make a difference on the pitch and that’s what we’ll look at.”
Schip’s sentiments were echoed by Koren, who said he had missed a large chunk of training over the past two months.
“I’ve just done the first session. I will work hard every day until next Tuesday and then it’s up to the manager to make a decision, so we will see how we go,” Koren said.
City and Sydney are expected to take near full-strength squads into the clash kicking off at 7.30pm.