FFA CUP FINAL PREVIEW | Adelaide United vs. Perth Glory

Another chapter will be written in Australian football history on Tuesday night when Adelaide United host Perth Glory in the inaugural FFA Cup.

Rarely does a final have two deserving finalists but fortunately the football gods have smiled on this competition and delivered.  Not only have these two teams dominated the domestic season, they are the two most watchable teams in the league; Perfect for the neutral fan on the couch who takes a passing interest in the final.

Perth is the runaway leaders after 10 rounds of the A-League, three points clear.  Kenny Lowe’s men were written off by many at the start of the season but ten rounds in, the Glory are full of confidence, have many avenues to goal and may just add their first piece of A-League silverware to their trophy cabinet.  Adelaide plays the perfect cup football, attractive and attacking.  Josep Gombau has his team fined tuned for the final, despite their shock loss to Brisbane on Friday night.

Adelaide were controversially handed the hosting rights by the FFA given their more favourable time zone for the remainder of the viewing audience.  Playing the game midweek further restricts options for away fans attending the game, but it also makes it harder for the major financial backer of the league Fox Sports when considering where to play the final.  Given the spread of the teams based around the country hosting a final at a neutral location like the FA Cup at Wembley isn’t an option for the league.  Perth was unlucky not to host the final just on location base alone.  One of many points that needs to be addressed before the start of the 2015 FFA Cup.  Adelaide had a slice of luck hosting Wellington in the first stage of the cup, given no New Zealand team can play host to FFA games.

Adelaide will rely heavily on Sergio Cirio and Bruce Djite who has scored all but one of the Adelaide goals in the FFA campaign.  Neither player has found the net in recent times in the league but Cup football is a different beast.  Djite has been troubled by injury of late but managed to play 90 minutes on Friday night.  Perth has also been reliant on a few attacking options going forward with Andy Keogh and Nebojsa Marinkovic scoring five goals each enroute to the final.  The resurgence of experienced campaigner Richard Garcia could play an important part in the match.

Both teams have potent options going forward but two very experienced keepers could decide the final result; Eugene Galekovic and Danny Vukovic.  The game must be decided on Tuesday night and given the closeness of both teams we could see a penalty shootout decide the cup, something neither keeper will want to endure.   Over the past few seasons Galekovic has shaded Vukovic as the better keeper, but this season Vukovic is reminding us of his quality between the sticks.

During the week the FFA announced the player of the match would receive the ‘Mark Viduka medal’.  This is a great move on their behalf given the progression of Viduka’s career.  Mark Viduka is one of the finest players Australia has produced and it all started at the Melbourne Knights, one of the clubs in the former NSL and a team also involved in the FFA Cup.  Too many times we have forgotten our rich football history in Australia but I applaud the FFA for this move.

Regardless of your preference of team make sure you’re tuned into the FFA Cup Tuesday night.

Head To Head:

Played: 28 Adelaide: 13 Draws: 7 Perth: 8

At Coopers Stadium:

Played: 16 Adelaide: 10 Draws: 2 Perth: 4

Last Time They Met:

Adelaide 2 (Cirio, Djite) defeated Perth 0 at Coopers Stadium on 26/10/2014 (Round 3)

 

Road to the Cup Final

Adelaide

R32 – Defeated Wellington Phoenix 1-0 (Cirio)

R16 – Defeated Brisbane Roar 2-0 (Djite, Cirio)

Quarter Final – Defeated Sydney FC 3-1 AET (Djite x 2, Cirio)

Semi Final – Defeated Central Coast Mariners 3-2 (Cirio x 2, Mabil)

 

Perth

R32 – Defeated Newcastle Jets 2-0 (Keogh x 2)

R16 – Defeated St Albans Saints 4-1 (Marinkovic x 2, Maclaren, Keogh)

Quarter Final – Defeated Melbourne Victory 4-2 AET (Keogh x 2, De Silva, Marinkovic)

Semi Final – Defeated Bentleigh Greens 3-0 (Marinkovic x 2, Harold)

 

The Squads

Adelaide United		Perth Glory
1	Eugene GALEKOVIC (GK)	1	Danny VUKOVIC (GK)
2	Michael MARRONE	2	Jack CLISBY
3	Nigel BOOGARD	3	Brandon ONEILL
4	Dylan MCGOWAN	5	Rostyn GRIFFITHS
7	Pablo SANCHEZ ALBERTO	6	Dino DJULBIC
8	Isaias SANCHEZ	8	Ruben ZADKOVICH
9	Sergio CIRIO	9	Andy KEOGH
10	Marcelo CARRUSCA	10	Nebojsa MARINKOVIC
11	Bruce DJITE	11	Richard GARCIA
14	Cameron WATSON	13	Diogo FERREIRA
16	Craig GOODWIN	14	Chris HAROLD
17	Awer MABIL	15	Jamie MACLAREN
18	James JEGGO	16	Sidnei SCIOLA
21	Tarek ELRICH	17	Mitch NICHOLS
22	Fabien FERREIRA	18	Daniel DESILVA
24	Bruce KAMAU	19	Josh RISHDON
25	Ryan KITTO	20	Jack DUNCAN (GK)
26	Anthony COSTA	21	Scott JAMIESON
30	John HALL (GK)	22	Cameron EDWARDS
32	Nathan KONSTANDOPOULOS	23	Michael THWAITE
COACH	Josep GOMBAU	COACH	Kenny LOWE

 

Absentees

Adelaide: Cassio, Jordan Elsey, Paul Izzo, and Osama Malik

Perth: Youssef Hersi

Prediction

Adelaide 2-1 (AET)

This game is too tough to predict so I’ve opted for an extra time result.  The home crowd could play an important role in the final stages of the game and could be the deciding factor.  I can’t continue to discount Perth but I think Gombau’s men are primed for the final.  Luckily for Perth fans my predictions have been very poor in recent times.

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