Steve Corica has a selection headache on his hands as he weighs up who will lead the line for Sydney FC to start the A-League Men season off the back of two big blows to his defence.
Corica confirmed after Saturday's 3-1 Australia Cup final win over Brisbane Roar that Socceroos leftback Joel King and English defender Jack Rodwell would miss the start of the league campaign with injuries.
It may help calm Sydney nerves that they are spoilt for choice at the other end of the field and seem to be scoring at will.
Homegrown talent Patrick Wood and Brazilian striker Fabio Gomes are competing to start up front against Melbourne Victory in round one on October 21.
Wood scored four goals in Sydney's cup campaign, but Gomes delivered in the final with a brace to leave Corica with plenty to ponder.
"I don't know right now (who will start in round one)," Corica said.
"Woody has had a great Australia Cup and he's worked his socks off for us, that's a real credit to him
"Fabio has obviously just come in and he's still finding his feet. But he showed exactly what we brought him here to do and he really enjoyed that.
"He could've had another goal, so we're happy with him as well."
The losses of Rodwell (hamstring) and King (calf) are likely to hurt Sydney, but Corica was pleased with how his defence was able to withstand an early onslaught from the Roar.
"They'll probably miss the start of the league season but not much of it," Corica said.
"We had a very settled team with both of them in the side and Jack had a great pre-season and kept really fit.
"But it showed the depth and quality we had with the players that came in."
