The Round of 32 of the 2016 FFA Cup is now complete, raising plenty of talking points for the ongoing tournament.
The Central Coast Mariners’ loss to Green Gully certainly sparked a lot of interest and is one of the reasons that the Mariners are now looking for a new coach.
The next night saw a stunning result with the A-League champions and premiers Adelaide United losing to Brisbane outfit Redlands United.
A record for the FFA Cup was set at WIN Stadium in Wollongong. And this was not because of the results on the football field. The crowd of 8,029 was the best ever for a Round of 32 FFA Cup match. The stadium looked great on TV, and certainly was a good demonstration of the interest in football in the region and the potential for an A-League club.
Another record was set in Devonport, Tasmania. 2,418 people watched their local side progress to the round of 16 for the first time. That’s around 10 per cent of the population. If the big cities were achieving that percentage of population, there would not be any stadiums large enough.
Still on the subject of crowds, two of the all A-League matches both achieved attendances over 3,000. In saying that, I think there needs to some discussion about playing mid-week. If these games had been played on a weekend, I would expect the crowds to be significantly higher.
Wollongong would have seen well over the 10,000 mark. Brisbane and Wanderers would also have had much bigger numbers.
Playing smaller stadiums has definitely proved sensible for the FFA Cup. Even though Newcastle Jets only had 1,956 at Magic Park, it would have been a great atmosphere in that size ground. The crowd of 3,028 for Brisbane Roar versus Perth Glory looked a lot smaller in the much larger Ballymore Stadium.
The National Premier League sides acquitted themselves well in this round of the cup. Eleven NPL clubs have progressed to the round of 16. Another record.
Based on what I saw in Round 32, I would expect Blacktown City, Canberra Olympic, Bentleigh Greens, Melbourne Victory, Sydney FC, Western Sydney Wanderers, Melbourne City, and Green Gully to go through to the quarter finals. But this is cup football, and anything can happen.
For those who have not seen all of the results for the round of 32, here they are
27 July 2016 Hume City 1–1 Marconi Stallions
Hume City win on penalties
ABD Stadium, Melbourne
Attendance: 91327 July 2016 Blacktown City 6–2 Sydney United 58
Lily Homes Stadium, Sydney
Attendance: 87727 July 2016 Far North Queensland 0–3 Edgeworth FC
Barlow Park, Cairns
Attendance: 1,37927 July 2016 Shamrock Rovers Darwin 0–6 Brisbane Strikers
Darwin Football Stadium, Darwin
Attendance: 1,3582 August 2016 Green Gully 2–1 Central Coast Mariners
Green Gully Reserve, Melbourne
Attendance: 8762 August 2016 Western Sydney Wanderers 3–2 Wellington Phoenix
Campbelltown Stadium, Sydney
Attendance: 3,2122 August 2016 North Eastern MetroStars 3–3 Bentleigh Greens
Bentleigh Greens win on penalties
Elite Systems Football Centre, Adelaide
Attendance: 9582 August 2016 Floreat Athena 1–2 Melbourne City
Dorrien Gardens, Perth
Attendance: 1,4083 August 2016 Redlands United 2–1 Adelaide United
Perry Park, Brisbane
Attendance: 1,5643 August 2016 Newcastle Jets 1–3 Melbourne Victory
Magic Park, Newcastle
Attendance: 1,9563 August 2016 Canberra Olympic 1–0 Surfers Paradise Apollo
Deakin Stadium, Canberra
Attendance: 1,2533 August 2016 Bonnyrigg White Eagles 3–0 Manly United
Bonnyrigg Sports Ground, Sydney
Attendance: 32710 August 2016 Wollongong Wolves 0–3 Sydney FC
WIN Stadium, Wollongong
Attendance: 8,02910 August 2016 Brisbane Roar 0–2 Perth Glory
Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane
Attendance: 3,02810 August 2016 Devonport City 1–0 Lambton Jaffas
Valley Road, Devonport
Attendance: 2,41810 August 2016 Melbourne Knights 2–1 Cockburn City
Knights Stadium, Melbourne
Attendance: 1,864
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