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2026 Australia Cup final rounds thread

Glenardo said:
Fairly unlikely but I actually seem to recall APIA playing Sydney United at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre a few years back when they had no other options. Imo lambert park would be the better option but wouldn’t entirely rule it out as an outsider of sorts. Capacity 5k

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Would rather they play at Concord Oval tbh which is at least closer to Leichhardt 🏟️
 
theFOOTBALLlover said:
Is that the new stadium for Wests training? I heard it didn't have lights for night games. I might be wrong.
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Seems that way, it’s covered in their branding. And it doesn’t look like it has lights from the photos. Again, will be interesting to see what APIA come up with co Leichhardt oval will be closed until 2028. Atleast they do have lambert park as opposed to Olympic who have no such fall back option
 
I'm a bit late after the games to comment, but fair play to South Melb beating Adelaide U in the Cup. A huge upset! What I can't get over how well South M played. I've seen them heaps of times over the last 15 years, and I've never seen them play anywhere near as well. They've played some fairly modest Tassie NPL teams too.

I can't get over that a NPL club, albeit about 4 months into the season, and being matchfit, outplayed an AU team, ostensibly playing for an ACL elite berth in a few weeks time, despite being only 2 weeks into training.

South dominated possession and territory and appeared to have more scoring chances and balls played into the box. Last year against South Hobart in the Aus Cup, their Squeezing was nowhere near as well- organised when SH had the ball. Plus they kept it far better for sustained periods than SH, against a disappointing AU.

Although AU lost Jovanovic and Dukuly, it was abysmal from them. A top 2 AL roster pro side losing to a part time, semi- pro or amateur team, is simply appalling.

Goodwin has been a Socceroo star, Kikianis a star for the Aus u20s, Alagich a good Socceroo u 23 player, Friend/Vriend an ex Eredivisie player - all part of a malfunctioning AU dominated by SM.

Anyway I take my hat off to South Melbourne. Well played!

Apparently, SM are only 5th on the ladder in the Vic NPL. I think they got to the Oceanian Final, but were beaten by Auckland City.
 
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Had a good look at Kingborough Lions v Melb Vic.

The crowd was 2,900, almost as many as South Melb v AU's 3000. Would have thought Lakeside Stadium should have been closer to full?

For over 80% possession late in the game, the only thing that wasn't good for Melb Vic, was that they failed to create many chances on goal, despite winning 4-0. To have Jordi Valadon on the ball so much in possession was a nightmare for KL. I only remember him mishitting 2 out of about 100 plus passes.

If Valadon was quicker over the turf, had better acceleration, was a better ball winner, JV would be in Socceroo caculations given what he does on the balI.

I've forgotten the pacy left winger for King Lions who sometimes worried MV? Greg Downes had a few decent long range shots. He had a lot of trials at English League 1 and 2 clubs.

What stood out a few times was the technique of Valadon and Jelacic. Both were able to receive awkward bouncing balls with the first touch and to have converted a slick pass under pressure on the ground to teammates with the second touch. I'd like to have seen Jelacic use his bag of dribbling tricks more often, but still saw some classy dribbling action from him.

Moreover, Valadon checks over his shoulder a lot if he has a body position facing his own goal, in order to scan the field of play if he receives the ball blind, with his back facing the opposition goal. He was able to frequently play forwards from his excellent scanning of the Lions prior to receiving the ball.
 
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Decentric said:
I'm a bit late after the games to comment, but fair play to South Melb beating Adelaide U in the Cup. A huge upset! What I can't get over how well South M played. I've seen them heaps of times over the last 15 years, and I've never seen them play anywhere near as well. They've played some fairly modest Tassie NPL teams too.

I can't get over that a NPL club, albeit about 4 months into the season, and being matchfit, outplayed an AU team, ostensibly playing for an ACL elite berth in a few weeks time, despite being only 2 weeks into training.

South dominated possession and territory and appeared to have more scoring chances and balls played into the box. Last year against South Hobart in the Aus Cup, their Squeezing was nowhere near as well- organised when SH had the ball. Plus they kept it far better for sustained periods than SH, against a disappointing AU.

Although AU lost Jovanovic and Dukuly, it was abysmal from them. A top 2 AL roster pro side losing to a part time, semi- pro or amateur team, is simply appalling.

Goodwin has been a Socceroo star, Kikianis a star for the Aus u20s, Alagich a good Socceroo u 23 player, Friend/Vriend an ex Eredivisie player - all part of a malfunctioning AU dominated by SM.

Anyway I take my hat off to South Melbourne. Well played!

Apparently, SM are only 5th on the ladder in the Vic NPL. I think they got to the Oceanian Final, but were beaten by Auckland City.
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OK ..... you need to know a couple of things.

Why are we 'only' 5th? Because for the first half of the season, our focus was on the OFC. There was a 4 week stretch where we had ONLY under 20's playing for our 1st team.

As for how we have played over the preceding years ..... that is all down to the coach we previously had, Esteban Quintas. He COMPLETELY eschewed any semblance of creative football. He HATED players passing the ball! It was successful insofar as we ended up 1st or 2nd each season, but was never good enough to win us a Grand Final.
 
Beretta said:
I think lambert Park is perfectly fine, but it looks like they are showcasing the match on paramount plus. Hence why it wont be at Lambert Park.
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Belmore would work or they could have it at your home ground however they've never been that generous.
 
Son of Sam said:
OK ..... you need to know a couple of things.

Why are we 'only' 5th? Because for the first half of the season, our focus was on the OFC. There was a 4 week stretch where we had ONLY under 20's playing for our 1st team.

As for how we have played over the preceding years ..... that is all down to the coach we previously had, Esteban Quintas. He COMPLETELY eschewed any semblance of creative football. He HATED players passing the ball! It was successful insofar as we ended up 1st or 2nd each season, but was never good enough to win us a Grand Final.
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Thanks for shedding light, Son Of Sam..

I've intended to watch the SM games in Oceania, but haven't.

I have seen SM play for many years, and have been very impressed with how they played against AU last week.

Not sure many players you have who are new from last season? I only really liked about 3 of them, the left back being one of them and a midfielder.

This year, the entire SM team looked good! SM were not lucky to win - they outplayed AU the team who finished 2nd on the AL ladder. They have been well-coached.

To think AU are playing an ACL qualifying game in 2 weeks is frightening!
 
Will still be interested to see what the longer term solution ends up being for APIA, especially if by some miracle the championship goes home and away in 27’. Again, Leichhardt will be shut until 2028. Would be interested to know exactly what it is about lambert park which makes it unsuitable to host, the lighting? Again, we’ve seen many worse venues than that host games previously in the aus cup and aus championship
 
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