2025 Australia Cup

[Beretta]

Australia Cup – New South Wales round 7 draw result:
APIA Leichhardt Tigers v Marconi Stallions
Blacktown City v SD Raiders
Sydney United v Granville Rage
Northern Tigers v Hills United

Ties to be played Tuesday May 27th & Wednesday May 28th with the four winners will represent New South Wales in Australia Cup round of 32.

Best possible draw. Better not fuck it up from here lol

 

[RIMB]

My oh my that finals moments crossbar...... Thats just wrong mate.... Wellington parked the bus the whole of the second half your boys just couldn't score... Great to see Henry still is a master of the art of interpretative diving in the box ... sold that one perfectly.. cheeky wink when he got up was icing on the cake ...

Light at the end of the tunnel stuff but it looks like Vaklanis is going to play attacking, wide football... interested to see how your season goes next year... chin up cobber.

It was one of the few times that I have considered the use of the dark arts as actual football. He didn't just make contact and dive - he sucked the keeper in and with astonishing composure let his legs be scythed out from under him. I hate interpretive diving on principle - he actually earned that penalty rather than being given it. Probably learned that level of evil somewhere South...

Anyone watching the Australia Cup with the new ball - do you think the ball is a bit lighter or more aerodynamically shaped perhaps? It seems that all 4 teams in Darwin have had some trouble with the ball resulting in more lofted deliveries and more unexpected bouncing than usual and I wondered if the earth's rotation nearer the equator, the higher temperatures/humidity, or the new ball might actually be a factor that requires players getting used to it (I only threw the other two in for colour - I wondered when I watched Mariners and Glory play if the ball handled a bit differently and yesterday saw some similar stuff happening).

For the Roar, I don't think Valkanis will have learned much more than he would have seen watching any of our games over the last 5 weeks or so. We did look to be playing positive attacking football with a lack of clinical finishing more often than not - much as we did under Zadkovich. Makes sense to have them basically playing the same style given they have had a season of practice that way.

Will be interesting to see what becomes of Abubakar. Plenty of teams with trouble scoring would have a use for him - so who will show him the money?

Klein sprayed 2 shots that he has been doing better with lately - but he showed sublime skill and footwork at one point to beat his opponent with very fast feet and body movement to advance up the side line. Yes, Decentric will know what that move is called but I will call it silky smooth and lightning fast left right left in close proximity .

Brazete was a bit less effective than usual and Bility may have been a little more effective this time. I did see a moment when the Nix player on the right wing at the time looked back down the line and Bility anticipated a pass and started to interpose himself - but had the Nix player turned and run it would have put Bility completely out of the picture. Just a moment but it showed his eagerness to chase a ball rather than holding the safer position goalside.

We got stuck attacking up the right hand side far too much - with my gut feeling saying 80-90% right sided attacking. We did go to the left but rarely turned it into any pressure.

Wellington lucky that the penalty was missed by our reliable O'Shea, and with whatever happened to Burke-Gilroy resulting in him falling over when he seemed to have the better position on the ball and allowed Brooke-Smith to put in his excellent cross that the also reliable Barbarouses finished.

Nix played the way they have been all season - sitting back in a very effective block and taking advantage of the few moments they get. Possible a clever strategy in Darwin's heat because they can hold that block with little effort collectively - where their opponents do most of the running and feel like they are getting close to scoring without actually doing that.

Love the optimism NoMates - with your team holding out heroically a man down from the 88th minute. Good on them - they played their way and we couldn't pick it apart well enough despite 'almost' doing enough with 2 posters and a few good saves by your unspellable keeper.

Roar's woes are around the final choices and composure to put balls in the net. Otherwise we still showed the ability to get through opponents to set up opportunities and lately we have been getting as far as passing the ball to a player with a decent shot available.

Valkanis will have a good idea about what everyone is capable of and I am looking forward to next season off the back of what he can do in the meantime. Shame we are out of the Cup - I love being part of it and we couldn't earn our place this time.