Sydney FC coach Branko Culina declared Brazilian star Juninho a certain starter for Friday night's A-League season opener, before delivering an ominous warning to rivals Central Coast.

Culina claims his players are hell bent on showing up the critics who had "written off" the club after their poor pre-season, and were ready to fire against the Mariners following an impressive two weeks on the training track.

"You can't go from doing ever so well in the Asian Champions League against some of the best Asian teams to being an ordinary team in the space of six weeks," Culina said.

"It's interesting, there are a lot of pundits and critics that have written us off and said `oh Sydney, all sorts of turmoil', but that's just the kind of thing that will stir the players on to bigger and better things."

Sydney made a late start to the pre-season after Culina gave his players a month off following the Champions League.

They struggled during the pre-season cup, winning just one game in finishing seventh after struggling with injuries and the late arrival of key players.

The Mariners, meanwhile, made the semi-finals for the third time in three pre-seasons, belting Sydney 3-0 along the way.

Culina insisted that result would mean nothing at the Sydney Football Stadium, claiming the pre-season cup was more of a "nuisance" for his team.

"We're on course for where want to be," said Culina.

"We've said all along that our aim was to get ready for the first game of the season, due to the fact that we played on for another three months after the A-League season had finished.

"Whilst pre-season was valuable exercise for many, for us it was a bit of a nuisance because we were forced to get straight into it when we were not physically or numerically ready for it.

"We said `alright we'll forsake the pre-season for the sake of getting ourselves ready for the season itself'. And we're ready."

Juninho has played just 45 minutes of competitive football in the past four months, but Culina said his marquee star would definitely start.

Socceroos star Mark Milligan, who has been battling an illness, was also expected to start, Culina said, although new Brazilian import Patrick remains unavailable as he awaits a work permit.

The Mariners have an almost full strength squad available with goalkeeper Danny Vukovic set to be rushed into the side despite arriving in Sydney from Qatar - following the Olyroos 0-0 draw with Iraq - little more than 12 hours before kick-off.

The game will have particular importance for Mariners striker Sasho Petrovski, who switched clubs during the off-season after being Sydney's top goalscorer over the first two years of the A-League.

"It would be nice for Sash to score in his debut for the Mariners in the A-League," said Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna, who believed the big-match occasion of opening the 2007/08 competition would bring out the best in his players.

"The fact that the real football starts on Friday night and we're opening the season, it's a great chance for us to showcase the club again and show how well we've recruited."

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