Brenton1986 said:

This is why quarter final scheduling for Australia Cup is now an absolute diabolical mess.

winner of Brunswick Juventus (Saturday August 15th & Friday August 21st) or Preston Lions (Sunday August 16th & Friday August 21st)*
South Melbourne (Saturday August 15th & Sunday August 23rd)
Lions FC (Friday August 14th & Saturday August 22nd)**
winner of North Sunshine Eagles (Monday August 17th & Saturday August 22nd) or Heidelberg United (Saturday August 15th & Sunday August 23rd)
SD Raiders (Saturday August 15th & Saturday August 22nd)
APIA Leichhardt Tigers or Sydney United (Saturday August 15th & Sunday August 23rd)

*NOTE: Preston Lions has a catch up game in NPL Victoria already booked for Wednesday August 26th against Melbourne City Youth at BT Connor Reserve.
**NOTE: Lions FC has Kappa Queensland Cup final already booked for Saturday August 22nd against Peninsula Power at Spencer Park.

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Agreed. Really need all the state cup finals to finish and have at least one catch up round before the Round of 32 games start

TheSecretScout said:

you'll come to realise that adelaide is the home of football in this country as the late great johnny warren said publically multiple times

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Well that's that then, case closed.

tsf said:

Well that's that then, case closed.

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To je taj put, prijatelju

Problem with Adelaide is they just dont win anything of note. 1 grand final win in 23 years is atrocious.

Adelaide City won 3 championships in under a decade, and they never hid behind the "we have the best yoof" to justify shortcomings. Theirs no Mori, Tobin, Vidmar, Ivanovic, Melta etc playing at hindmarsh these days, those guys were winners.

Adelaide red should have been a lot better.

Simply stunned that there are 6 NPL teams ans just 2 A League teams in the quarter finals of the Australia Cup. The gap between the NPL and A League is very much getting narrower by the year.

southmelb said:

I would still expect Victory or sydney to win it. Sydney the more likely, i think they just need to win the next round, the semis are in September so they should be a lot more fitter by then, but its certainly getting hairy.

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Agree - I still think either Victory or Sydney FC will win it. As an NPL team you have to aim to make the grand final and give it your best shot. This kind of opportunity for an NPL side may not come again too soon.

LFC said:

RIMB
Put aside the off season in season debate.
Magic of the Cup.
The outlook of respect.
The English FACup.
The smaller lesser known clubs always go all out against the bigger clubs as we see.
We also see the bigger clubs always use their youth just as ALClubs here and at times get humiliated.
Heck I’ve watched LFC being knocked off by minnows over the years for eg.
Not long ago might I add and many other epl have got owned year on year.
I know it’s not comparing apples with apples but you get my drift.
IMO even though your clubs are in pre season you have theoretically plucked some of the best youth available in the country - you have better facilities physicians and let’s not forget professionals.
I do not buy it - on the day it’s which team wants it most but the AL youth with the odd Snr should have more control of these games as we see it’s the finish that is lacking and that’s common for any game no matter when it’s played.

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My team's defensive structure was hopeless against Sydney.

Players were sort of holding a zonal structure then someone would go towards an emerging threat player.

They just did not function as a unit at all.

Going forward we had players making runs that were not honoured, beautiful passes into space where nobody was running, and passes to both Sydney and empty spaces. Nobody knew what anyone else was going to do and it showed.

We had players getting bumped off the ball because they were not prepared for a physical confrontation in challenges.

And we did have players running over to coach Valkanis during the game and asking where they were meant to have gone and what they were meant to have done in whatever situation just happened.

That, for my team at least, is clearly not a team that has practiced together and was ready for a big stage game like the Cup.

I love the concept of the Cup and to watch any team state its claim. Silly as it is there are no enemies in the Cup to me - it is all clubs eager to make their mark and succeed. I know there are plenty of enemies and rivalries in the Cup - but I don't hate any club we play in this competition like I would hate the same club if we played them in season.

This competition is an exciting and challenging novelty sideshow to the season to me.

Sure players want to win every game but coaches would rather try things out in a pre-season Cup game than a league game I think.

For the best youth in the country point - we have taken a few players from our own U23 NPL team that is getting beaten most weeks, adding them to some youth from elsewhere, and throwing in some experience in small numbers (2 of whom did not play the Cup game). That is not how it should be but it is the reality we face at the Roar. We are a new team that has to learn before we can do well.

The team that played and how they played is far from what the squad will be capable of in October. Or so I bloody well hope.

Encomium said:

I carried over from Heart and gave them a good go, I can't support this team any more

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I think we still might have one season membership available for you .

My team can play shit football too if that is what you are chasing - but we do it in orange and that makes all the difference.

Hopefully you didn't get the tattoo.

southmelb said:

Problem with Adelaide is they just dont win anything of note. 1 grand final win in 23 years is atrocious.

Adelaide City won 3 championships in under a decade, and they never hid behind the "we have the best yoof" to justify shortcomings. Theirs no Mori, Tobin, Vidmar, Ivanovic, Melta etc playing at hindmarsh these days, those guys were winners.

Adelaide red should have been a lot better.

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100% agree, AU have heavily underachieved in the a league.

Always played one of the best brands of football in the league - Consistently finish in the top 6, premiership runners up multi times, semi finalist several times, losing grand finalist twice, runners up in the australia cup & asian champions league as well

Whilst I work for the club, in my opinion it has nothing to do with how under resourced the club is compared to the east coast sides or the NZ teams. Its always been a mentality thing with AU.

Too many AU players, coaches, sides have bottled it when it counts. Whether that's a small team mentality or pressure related can be debated.

I've always held the belief that if there were 1-2 sports psychologists on the permanent payroll at AU, the side would've been so much more successful

TheSecretScout said:

100% agree, AU have heavily underachieved in the a league.

Always played one of the best brands of football in the league - Consistently finish in the top 6, premiership runners up multi times, semi finalist several times, losing grand finalist twice, runners up in the australia cup & asian champions league as well

Whilst I work for the club, in my opinion it has nothing to do with how under resourced the club is compared to the east coast sides or the NZ teams. Its always been a mentality thing with AU.

Too many AU players, coaches, sides have bottled it when it counts. Whether that's a small team mentality or pressure related can be debated.

I've always held the belief that if there were 1-2 sports psychologists on the permanent payroll at AU, the side would've been so much more successful

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But if you had balanced and well adjusted players you wouldn't be Adelaide

RIMB said:

I think we still might have one season membership available for you .

My team can play shit football too if that is what you are chasing - but we do it in orange and that makes all the difference.

Hopefully you didn't get the tattoo.

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Ha ha, no tattoo.

Encomium said:

I carried over from Heart and gave them a good go, I can't support this team any more

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Tell them MSC sent you

TheSecretScout said:

Sydney absolutely do not have the best youth in the country, adelaide has that honour (and has held it for the past 3-4 years with several more players about to come through as well)

once you start factoring in that sydney has an academy (and work out how much it costs for 1 player to come through the academy and get into the first team) compared to adelaide which doesnt have an academy - you'll come to realise that adelaide is the home of football in this country as the late great johnny warren said publically multiple times and many people have said since.

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Sorry, maybe Im missing something. If Adelaide dont have their own Youth structure, how do they claim they have the best youth? Do you men poaching it from other clubs in the state for nothing?

SMFC1959 said:

Simply stunned that there are 6 NPL teams ans just 2 A League teams in the quarter finals of the Australia Cup. The gap between the NPL and A League is very much getting narrower by the year.



Agree - I still think either Victory or Sydney FC will win it. As an NPL team you have to aim to make the grand final and give it your best shot. This kind of opportunity for an NPL side may not come again too soon.

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South vs Victory Grand Final... you know you all want it.

Monoethnic Social Club said:

Sorry, maybe Im missing something. If Adelaide dont have their own Youth structure, how do they claim they have the best youth? Do you men poaching it from other clubs in the state for nothing?

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"poaching" isnt the word I would use, especially since I am heavily involved in this "process" lol

It boils down to the close relationship AU collectively has with all the NPLSA clubs and the FSA programs. (which is very different to almost every other a league club, except brisbane these days)

I have never denied the role of SA NPL clubs play in youth development and im sure you're fully aware of my own involvement within the SA NPL (im also one of those rare people who enjoys the a league as much as the npl and it has nothing do with my employment) so im more than qualified to talk about this topic.

Like I have alluded to, development locally is 100% solely done by the SA NPL clubs, please bear in mind that players are heavily monitored from the ages of 12 and upwards though. The best players are either going to into the FSA/AU squads by the time there 14.

TheSecretScout said:

"poaching" isnt the word I would use, especially since I am heavily involved in this "process" lol

It boils down to the close relationship AU collectively has with all the NPLSA clubs and the FSA programs. (which is very different to almost every other a league club, except brisbane these days)

I have never denied the role of SA NPL clubs play in youth development and im sure you're fully aware of my own involvement within the SA NPL (im also one of those rare people who enjoys the a league as much as the npl and it has nothing do with my employment) so im more than qualified to talk about this topic.

Like I have alluded to, development locally is 100% solely done by the SA NPL clubs, please bear in mind that players are heavily monitored from the ages of 12 and upwards though. The best players are either going to into the FSA/AU squads by the time there 14.

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hahah sorry, sure perhaps "poaching" is a little harsh, I wasnt trying to lay blame nor diminish your role in the pyramid.

I would have fancied our chances more with the A-League sides then playing APIA tonight.

That's not something I would have said 5-10 years ago.

Beretta said:

I would have fancied our chances more with the A-League sides then playing APIA tonight.

That's not something I would have said 5-10 years ago.

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I was thinking the same thing watching South vs Fremantle.... Sydney teams have the easier side of the draw because you've got more Aleague sides and we have to face in form NPL squads...

Monoethnic Social Club said:

hahah sorry, sure perhaps "poaching" is a little harsh, I wasnt trying to lay blame nor diminish your role in the pyramid.

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No offence taken in the slightest.

From someone not familiar with how the pyramid works in SA, which is very different to the east coast of australia - I fully understand the raised eyebrows

Theres no animosity that im aware of from any SANPL club with adelaide united and vice versa. Sometimes It also doesnt work out moving to AU's NPL side either, even this year a good example is that of alex battistella.

He came through adelaide city as child before joining AU npl side a little over 12 months ago, unfortunately he didnt make it with the AU NPL (partly because there is a lot of depth within the forward positions at the club). He now has gone back to adelaide city as a more experienced player and hes still only 18

Monoethnic Social Club said:

South vs Victory Grand Final... you know you all want it.

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I'll call it...if Preston beat Brunswick Juventus tonight...the home ground advantage will suit them all the way to the Final!

TheSecretScout said:

Sydney absolutely do not have the best youth in the country, adelaide has that honour (and has held it for the past 3-4 years with several more players about to come through as well)

once you start factoring in that sydney has an academy (and work out how much it costs for 1 player to come through the academy and get into the first team) compared to adelaide which doesnt have an academy - you'll come to realise that adelaide is the home of football in this country as the late great johnny warren said publically multiple times and many people have said since.

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just to chime in on the discussion.
Correction no Adelaide is not the "home" of football that I'm afraid is the east coast main hubs of Syd/Melb - it no matter which in avoiding State rivalry banter.
What you have is great youth Dev outlook/outcome no doubt about that (having 1 AL Pro Club to feed into helps) that is great to see over the years But dam imagine IF your town/AU actually had a academy in that case as well.

Considering you mention Sydneyfc does not have the best youth I wonder what the ratio is which Youth of the 2 have kicked on in their careers to stardom let alone long time successful Pro careers.
Maybe hard to gauge considering the population difference but some stat type could work it our per capita.