FFA Cup Preview – South Springvale v South Cardiff
FFA CUP – ROUND ONE
TUESDAY 29th JULY 7:30 KO
KINGSTON HEATH SOCCER COMPLEX, CHELTENHAM
#SSvSC #FFACup
Without sounding too harsh on either team competing this is one of the weaker first round ties of the cup. Both teams have a great opportunity to make it to the final 16, something not thought possible back when the season commenced.
South Springvale is the ultimate cup team, spending their weekends in the third tier of Victorian football. The self proclaimed ‘Pub team’ by coach Bill Lambropoulos will be looking to win plenty of hearts of the Australian football public and continue their FFA Cup journey.
South Cardiff are another team coming to terms with their FFA Cup fame and will be looking to make the most of the opportunity. Languishing 8th in the NPL NNSW the Newcastle outfit will be looking for an inspired performance under coach Greg Asquith. The trip to Melbourne could be the highlight of many football careers, but all South Cardiff players who take the pitch will be wanting to extend their cup dream.
One team will continue an unlikely cup journey, it’s just a matter of who it will be at Kingston Heath on a brisk Melbourne Tuesday night.
Team Profiles
South Springvale – Founded:1968 Current Competition: State League One State League Cup winners: 1994. Dockerty Cup Finalist: 2014 (Still to be played vs. Melbourne Knights)
South Cardiff – Founded: 1989 Current Competition: Northern New South Wales NPL
Road to the Cup
South Springvale
Pascoe Vale 1-0
Cairnlea 3-1
Fawkner Blues 1-0
Hume City 3-0
South Cardiff
Weston Workers Bears 3-2
Urunga FC 5-2
Crooks Hill United FC 3-0
Key Players
Ali Hameed and Dean Panagapoulos provide the major threat to the South Cardiff defence, particularly in a cup environment. The two provide the most likely source of the any South Springvale goal.
Jamie Byrnes is the best avenue to goal for South Cardiff.
Prediction: South Springvale 2-0
South Springvale squad: 1.Rani DOWISHA (GK), 2.Keiran FITZGERALD, 3.Ricky DIACO, 5.Andrew SKLEDAR, 6.Darragh RYAN, 7.Alexandru FLOREA, 8.Craig METCALFE, 9.Damian IACONIS, 10.Dean PANAGOPOULOS, 11.Ali HAMEED, 14.Courail NASSIM, 15.Thomas BROOKS, 16.Billy DAMIANOS, 17.Konstantinos DASKALAKIS, 18.Sotiros DIMITRAKOPOULOS, 19.Colm O’TOOLE, 20.Anstidis DRAKOS, 21.Jordan GIFKINS (GK), 22.Nicholas KATSAMBOUKAS, 23.Luke BURGESS
South Cardiff squad: 1.Michael STAFFORD (GK), 2.Nathan STEVENS, 3.Cameron HERRING, 4.Mathew GREY, 5.Mathew DARR, 6.Ashley BALCOMBE, 7.Chris GAZZARD, 8.James BYRNES, 9.Lee ASHTON, 10.Mitchell WALLACE, 11.Jarryd JOHNSON, 12.Daniel JOHNSON, 13.Dean KELLEY, 14.Sean CLERKE, 15.Mathew WILESMITH, 16.Thomas PULLIN (GK), 17.Samuel PARKER, 18.Guy WAHLSTEDT, 19.Luke COOK, 20.Nicholas FRIEND
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