Melbourne Victory will lose star striker Robbie Kruse for their defining Asian Champions League clash in a fortnight, but not because of injury.
Kruse was cleared of any injury to his knee after being stretchered off in his side's come-from-behind 2-1 win over Tianjin Teda on Wednesday night.
However, Kruse, midfielder Grant Brebner and defender Surat Sukha are all suspended for the Victory's critical home match against Gamba Osaka on May 4.
Kruse and Brebner were both booked on Wednesday night, thereby exceeding their disciplinary quota for the tournament and received one-match bans.
Sukha was sent off late in the encounter and banned automatically for the next match.
For the third time in Asia's premier club soccer competition, the Victory looked like being put out of their misery approaching half-time in the clash with China's Tianjin Teda on Wednesday night.
Instead, the win puts them within sight of making the ACL round of 16 for the first time if they can secure maximum points against Gamba Osaka.
Caretaker coach Mehmet Durakovic was thrilled by the Victory's win over the Group E leaders - his first since taking over from the sacked Ernie Merrick.
The former Victory youth team coach is confident that as the weeks go by, the players are responding well to his gameplan involving more width and sharper movement and passing.
"Okay, it's going to take a bit of time for (them to completely learn) the structure I want them to play," Durakovic said.
"Slowly but surely it's coming. Hopefully we can go on to bigger and better things in a couple of weeks' time."
Both the Victory and Sydney FC - who beat another Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua 3-2 midweek - are back in the hunt to salvage Australian pride in a competition A-League clubs have regularly failed to come to grips with.
Only two Australian clubs have ever advanced to the tournament's second stage.
Adelaide United was Australia's best ever performer in getting to the 2008 ACL final, while Newcastle was beaten in the round of 16 in 2009.
- AAP
First posted April 21, 2011 15:23:00
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