FFA Cup 2021

[RB]

The draw for the Round of 32 of the 2021 instalment of the FFA Cup was completed earlier. The draw is a bit more rigged even than usual with clubs divided into North, East, West and South zones and drawn against clubs from within the same zone. E.g. Brisbane Roar were in the northern zone with 5 state league clubs so could not draw an A-League club, whereas the other A-League clubs had between a 20 and 30% chance of drawing a fellow professional team depending on where they were placed.

Anyway, as there are now 12 A-League clubs (but only 10 spaces allocated to AL clubs in the Round of 32), there are two playoff matches to be played early next month between the bottom 4 teams from the recent AL season:

Perth (9) v Melbourne Victory (12)
Western (10) v Newcastle United (11)

These teams will be the last to qualify for the Round of 32.

The only all-A-League match in the Round of 32 is:

Western/Newcastle United v Wellington

The A-League-local club matches are:

Floret Athena (WA) v Adelaide United
Sydney Olympic v Sydney
Broadmeadow Magic (Nth. NSW) v Western Sydney
Blacktown City (NSW) v Central Coast
Newcastle Olympic v Macarthur
Peninsula Power (Qld.) v Brisbane
South Melbourne v Melbourne City
Adelaide City v Perth/Melbourne Victory

The all-local club matches are:

Edge Hill Utd.* (Qld.) v Gold Coast Knights
Cooma Tigers (ACT, sort of) v APIA Leichhardt (NSW)
Brisbane Lions v Casuarina (NT)
Joondalup (WA) v Adelaide Olympic
Hume City (Vic.) v Port Melbourne
Mt. Druitt Town (NSW) v Wollongong City
Avondale (Vic.) v Devonport City (Tas.)

* = from the fourth tier in state soccer

Keen to see Adelaide City hosting possibly Melbourne Victory. The cup run of Cairns-based Edge Hill United, who essentially in the third flight in the Nth. Qld. league (and thus level 5 on the Australian soccer pyramid) is also capturing some attention.

[RB]

So Adelaide United get their FFA Cup underway this weekend v Floreat Athena in Perth, Sunday at 2.30 Adelaide time.

Then Jim's favourite local side Adelaide Olympic take on Joondalup SC in Perth on Wednesday night at 7.30 Adelaide time.

Both matches can be viewed live and free on Ten Play.

[Jim05]

United looked a bit flat and scores were locked at 1-1 so into ET.
United 3-1 now about 10 minutes into ET

[Dinglinga75]

probably looked flat as this was their first hit out ... havent played any pre season games prior as all NPL, SL1 & SL 2 clubs were still in season

Interesting to note , Floret Athena played in the WA NPL GF last week .. lost 6-3
were 0-5 down after 23 minutes

[Dinglinga75]

ECU Jundaloop (WA) 0-3 Adelaide Olympic(SA)

[RB]

Results from the matches played so far in the northern and western conferences:

Peninsula Power (Qld.) 0-3 Brisbane - crowd 2,905
Edge Hill Utd. (Qld.) 0-2 Gold Coast Knights - crowd 1,946
Brisbane Lions 6-0 Casuarina (NT) - crowd 400
Floreat Athena 1-3 Adelaide United (AET) - crowd 831
Joondalup (WA) 0-3 Adelaide Olympic - crowd 485
Adelaide City v Perth/Melbourne Victory - not yet played

A couple of really disappointing crowds there, with no obvious explanation.

The draw for the next round (to be played TBA) is:

Brisbane Lions v Brisbane
Adelaide Olympic v Adelaide United
Gold Coast Knights v Winner of Adelaide City v Perth/Melbourne Victory

Hopefully the Olympic v United match (the first all-SA FFA Cup final rounds match BTW) will be played at Hindmarsh, or at least Marden, or really anywhere other than that dunghill at the Parks.

And hopefully the southern and eastern conference matches can get underway soonish as there should be a couple of crackers.

[Dinglinga75]

Olympic vs AU will be played at Marden

A- League clubs do not play on artificial pitches

[RB]

FFS. Confirmed for that shithole at the Parks, Sunday week 3 p.m.

[RB]

United achieved a narrow 1-0 victory on the artificial turf today. Attendance was roughly 2,600.

Interesting to see the 'safety' flares let off by the Red Army.

[Wedgie]

Due to the border restrictions between Western Australia and Victoria, Perth Glory will face Melbourne Victory on Wednesday, 24 November in Adelaide.

The venue for the clash will be Marden Sports Complex, with a kick-off of 7:30pm local time (8:00pm AEDT).

The winner will then face Adelaide City in the Round of 32, again in Adelaide.

[RB]

The Round of 32 (eastern division) got underway on the weekend:

Mt. Druitt Town (NSW) 0-3 Wollongong City - crowd 714

Two Round of 16 matches have also been completed:

Adelaide Olympic 0-1 Adelaide United - crowd 2,637
Brisbane Lions 0-4 Brisbane - crowd 2,465

As was mentioned above, Perth will take on Melbourne Victory at Marden, Adelaide on Wednesday 24 November, before the winner plays Adelaide City, thankfully at Marden, at 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday 1 December.

Unfortunately, Devonport Strikers of Tasmania have pulled out of the competition, meaning that Avondale of Victoria have been handed a Round of 16 berth.

[RB]

The first A-League playoff has taken place, Western getting through in controversial circumstances:

Western 2-1 Newcastle United - crowd 1,127

And a couple more Round of 32 clashes have taken place:

Broadmeadow Magic (Nth. NSW) 0-3 Western Sydney - crowd 892
Hume City (Vic.) 3-1 Port Melbourne - crowd 419
South Melbourne 0-3 Melbourne City - crowd 4,291
Blacktown City (NSW) 0-1 Central Coast - crowd 1,046
Newcastle Olympic 0-3 Macarthur - crowd 1,482

The remainder of the draw for the Round of 16 is:

Hume City (Vic.) v Melbourne City
Avondale (Vic.) v Western/Wellington
Wollongong City v Central Coast
Cooma Tigers (ACT, sort of)/APIA Leichhardt (NSW) v Western Sydney
Sydney Olympic/Sydney v Macarthur

No word yet on tickets for Perth v Melbourne Victory to be played Wednesday 24 November in Adelaide.

[RB]

Headed to a shootout at Marden.

[RB]

The Victory won the penalty shootout:

Perth 1-1 Melbourne Victory (AET - Melbourne Victory won 4-3 on pens) - crowd 430

It was interesting to hear the ground announcer attempt to rev everyone up as the teams came onto the ground: "Please welcome the Melbourne Victory, and YOUURRRR PERTH GLORRRRRYYY!!!!"

About four people clapped.

Anyway, this sets up a showdown between Adelaide City and Melbourne Victory in the Round of 32, this Wednesday 1 December at Marden again - tickets available here:

https://events.humanitix.com/ffa-cup-ro ... 2-coili6uj

Also on Wednesday, Sydney booked their place in the Round of 16:

Sydney Olympic 2-4 Sydney - crowd 3,271

[RB]

Heartbreak for Adelaide City, going down to the Victory thanks to a 97th minute penalty after having dominated the match. One bloke in the City cheer squad was actually kicked out after ten minutes and after that the atmosphere died down a bit unfortunately.

Round of 32 results:

Adelaide City 0-1 Melbourne Victory - crowd 1,550
Cooma Tigers (ACT, sort of) 0-3 APIA Leichhardt (NSW) (AET) - crowd 1,952

Round of 16 results:

Wollongong City 1-2 Central Coast - crowd 2,189
Hume City (Vic.) 0-1 Melbourne City - crowd 2,148

The quarter finals have been drawn as follows:

Adelaide United v Gold Coast Knights/Melbourne Victory (in Adelaide if Victory win against GCK)
Winner of Avondale (Vic.) v Western/Wellington v Melbourne City
Sydney/Macarthur v Brisbane
APIA Leichhardt (NSW)/Western Sydney v Central Coast

[Wedgie]

Mariners beat Apia 6 nil in Sydney in their QF

[RB]

Final Round of 32 result:

Western 0-1 Wellington - crowd 1,217

And the Round of 16 wrapped up last night:

APIA Leichhardt (NSW) 2-1 Western Sydney - crowd 4,171
Sydney 2-0 Macarthur (AET) - crowd 1,201
Avondale (Vic.) 1-4 Wellington - crowd 830
Gold Coast Knights 1-2 Melbourne Victory (AET) - crowd 2,417

That means that Adelaide United will take on rivals Melbourne Victory in their quarter final at Hindmarsh this Wednesday, 5 January. Tickets at Ticketek.

As Wedgie mentioned, the first quarter final has been completed:

APIA Liechhardt (NSW) 0-6 Central Coast - crowd 5,681

All non-A-League sides have now been eliminated, with APIA the only side registering a 'cupset' this year (becoming the first state league side to knock off an A-League side twice). One cupset per year is about the average.

[RB]

Well after dominating possession during the first hour of play last night, United's inability to finish ended up costing them. After leading 1-0, the game totally changed after Victory brought on a couple of subs around 60 minutes in and an atrocious blunder from Tratt enabled Victory somehow to pull off a 2-1 Victory. Astounding disappointing night for United supporters.

Meanwhile, Scott Jamieson missed a penalty in normal time, then in the shootout, as Wellington got past City on penalties:

Adelaide United 1-2 Melbourne Victory - crowd 3,156
Melbourne City 0-0 Wellington (AET - Wellington won 4-3 on pens) - crowd 1,485

The semi final draw is as follows:

Melbourne Victory v Wellington
Sydney/Brisbane v Central Coast

[Wedgie]

Mariners beat Sydney in Sydney and progress through to the Final.
Fair effort as it was their first game for several weeks.

[Wedgie]

Victory beat the Phoenix so the final will be ar Aami Park next Saturday.