Oakleigh Cannons have the chance to make history in the Australia Cup on Wednesday night.
The NPLM VIC outfit face Sydney FC in one of three quarter-finals kicking off concurrently at 7.30pm AEST; should Oakleigh defeat their A-Leagues opponents they will join NPLM NSW side Sydney United in the final four.
No two NPL sides have ever reached the semi-finals in the same season since the Australia Cup’s inception (formerly the FFA Cup) in 2014.
Joe Lolley and Robert Mak are both capable of making their club debuts for Sydney FC, whilst fellow signings Jack Rodwell and Alex Parsons are cup-tied having played for Western Sydney and Brisbane Roar respectively in earlier rounds of the cup competition.
Despite being buoyed by the arrival of his new Sky Blues team-mates, midfielder Patrick Yazbek is wary of the challenge posed by Oakleigh, currently sat third on the NPL VIC table.
“I’m definitely excited,” Yazbek said. “It’s been a couple of weeks since that Bentleigh Greens game (in the Round of 16), so every single game we can get under our belt is always good in pre-season, for it to be a competitive one as well it’s always good.
“These NPL teams, they’re always up for it, in a competitive match in the Australia Cup, especially against A-League sides. We’re not going down there expecting it to be easy, we’re expecting a big fight from them.
“They’re currently doing well in the Victorian NPL, so it is going to be a difficult match – but we’re up for it as well, so it should be exciting for us and for them.”
Yazbek added: “All the new boys are great. We’ve got a great dynamic going on, and they’ve settled in really easily. They’re all great guys and we get along very well. I think it’s definitely going to be no struggle playing with them on the pitch, because off the pitch they’re great guys.”
The other two fixtures set to round out the quarter-finals see four A-Leagues outfits face off, with Macarthur FC hosting Wellington Phoenix at Campbelltown Stadium and Adelaide United going head-to-head with Brisbane Roar at ServiceFM Stadium.
Bulls head coach Dwight Yorke is set for his first taste of competitive action against an A-Leagues outfit when his side welcome the ‘Nix to Campbelltown.
This is the first meeting between the two clubs in the Australia Cup, although Wellington do hold the ascendancy over the Bulls in recent Isuzu UTE A-League meetings, having won two and drawn one of the past three encounters.
Wellington head coach Ufuk Talay rounded out his ALM squad on Tuesday morning with the signing of Polish striker Oskar Zawada. The former Wolfsburg and Poland youth spearhead – who stands at 1.92m – is 26 years of age and eager to make his mark at the ‘Nix after scoring three goals in 10 Polish Ekstraklasa appearances for Stat Mielec in 2022.
Zawada will link up with the ‘Nix in Sydney on Tuesday night as the team prepares for Wednesday’s Australia Cup clash.
In the second of two all-A-Leagues clashes of the evening, the Reds and Roar meet in the Australia Cup for the first time since 2014, when Adelaide won 2-0 en route to becoming champions.
Carl Veart’s Adelaide are undefeated in their last five games against Brisbane (W4, D1). The Roar come into the Australia Cup quarter-finals after a week-long camp on the Fraser Coast which included a 7-0 win over Football Queensland Premier League Wide Bay Select; the Roar enjoyed wins over Heidelberg United and Avondale FC en route to the quarter-finals – the same stage Warren Moon’s team reached in 2021.
Veart says Ben Halloran – Adelaide’s star off-season signing returning to the club after a stint in Korea – is back to full fitness after coming off the bench in his side’s Round of 16 win over Adelaide City.
Halloran entered the fray with half an hour to play, but extra time and penalties ensured he got over 60 minutes of action on his Reds return.
Statistics collated by Opta show the Roar have won four of their five Australia Cup games in the last two seasons after winning only twice in all their eight games in the competition prior; though, they’ve won only two of their nine previous games against fellow A-League teams in the competition.
MATCH DETAILS: AUSTRALIA CUP TRIPLE-HEADER
Oakleigh Cannons FC v Sydney FC
Wednesday, August 31
Jack Edwards Reserve
Kick-off: 730pm AEST
Adelaide United v Brisbane Roar
Wednesday, August 31
ServiceFM Stadium
Kick-off: 730pm AEST
Macarthur FC v Wellington Phoenix
Wednesday, August 31
Campbelltown Stadium
Kick-off: 730pm AEST
