Teenager Hoping To Hit Big Time

The Sunday Age

Sunday April 6, 2008

Michael Lynch

MELBOURNE Victory coach Ernie Merrick will augment his injury-ravaged strikeforce by deploying attacking midfielders such as Nick Ward and Adrian Caceres in support of Danny Allsopp against Gamba Osaka in the club's Asian Champions League match on Wednesday night.

But a teenage forward waiting in the wings hopes he gets the chance to make a fairytale debut for his new club if Merrick's initial choices fail to make a breakthrough.

Melbourne Victory supporters know little of 18-year-old Nathan Elasi, who was signed on a six-month contract for the ACL campaign earlier this year.

Tall and fast, the young New South Welshman has a background in athletics as a 100 metres sprinter and hurdler and may be a weapon of surprise off the bench should Melbourne need something different if it is chasing a goal in what shapes as a pivotal match.

Elasi has the background to succeed, having played for the Young Socceroos and cut his teeth in NSW leagues with Marconi, Sydney Olympic and the Sutherland Sharks before being lured south by the Victory to join up with his young international contemporary Sebastian Ryall. A defender, Ryall, who looks likely to start alongside Rody Vargas and Kevin Muscat in a Melbourne back three on Wednesday night, is the captain of the Young Socceroos and another Victory player from NSW.

Elasi, whose father Michael played for St George in the National Soccer League, will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of other Young Socceroos such as Queensland trio Tahj Minniecon, Michael Zullo and Robbie Kruse. Roar boss Frank Farina threw them in at the deep end during the A-League season and they came up trumps, eventually displacing regular strikers Simon Lynch and Ante Milicic to become first-team fixtures.

Elasi's prospects of a regular starting berth at Melbourne would appear to be some way off, given that Archie Thompson and Daniel Allsopp are the most successful striking pair in the A-League's three-year history.

But opportunity can knock in the most unpromising circumstances. Thompson's knee ligament injury, sustained during the Socceroos scoreless draw with China in a World Cup qualifier last month, is a big blow to Melbourne's ACL campaign, especially as Merrick's team is also without Costa Rican international Carlos Hernandez.

But, as the coach maintains, their absence is not just a test of the club's depth but the chance for others to step into the breach and prove they can do a job.

While Elasi will not start, Victory football operations manager Gary Cole said the teenager may get the chance to show his worth off the bench on Wednesday evening after showing he was not intimidated by senior football during Victory's 2-2 draw with Adelaide in a friendly at Hindmarsh last week.

"I was impressed with the way he played against big Sasa Ognenovski and Angelo Costanzo," Cole, a former striker, said.