A trip across the Nullabor hasn’t shaken Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat’s determination to be the first winners of the FFA Cup.
Football Federation Australia confirmed the round of 32 draw for the inaugural competition on Wednesday, which sees Victory take the long flight to Perth to play Bayswater City.
Ahead of the cup’s first games next Tuesday night, Muscat said he had eyes on the trophy.
“We are taking this competition seriously and are definitely focused on winning the Cup,” he said.
“To be the first club to hold the Cup would be something we would cherish and everyone at Melbourne Victory knows that our fans would be expecting us to be there come final time as well.
Bayswater City currently lead the National Premier League WA and Muscat said they would be a tough opponent.
“We can’t take this game lightly and I’ve got no doubt that all the players will step up when this competition begins,” he said.
After weeks of uncertainty surrounding the two WA-based fixtures, the WA Athletics Stadium has been confirmed as the host of two round of 32 matches.
Bayswater City will host Victory on 20 August, with local side Stirling Lions taking on A-League champions Brisbane Roar the previous evening.
The 16 matches in the first round will be shared across four weeks, with games played mid-week to avoid clashes with our competitions.
Matches will be played at regional grounds in every Australian state, including non A-League cities Hobart, Wollongong and Ballarat.
The Victorian goldfields city will host arguably the match of the round, when Melbourne City play Sydney FC on August 12.
As well as being Melbourne City’s first match with their new moniker, the club could hand new signing Damien Duff a debut.
The two clubs were involved in off-season animosity as City sought, and were denied, permission to play in sky blue home kits this season, Sydney’s shirt colour.
The other all-A-League matches are Newcastle Jets v Perth Glory and Adelaide United v Wellington Phoenix on August 5.
More than 600 football teams entered the FFA Cup through their state-based cups, which now double as qualifiers for the national competition.
Fox Sports will telecast a number of games from the competition, including the final on December 16, beginning with opening match Broadmeadow Magic v Brisbane Strikers on July 29.
FFA CUP – WHERE DOES YOUR SIDE PLAY?
Tue 29 Jul 2014
Broadmeadow Magic (NSW) v Brisbane Strikers (Qld) – Wanderers Oval, Broadmeadow
Manly United (NSW) v Sydney Olympic (NSW) – Cromer Park, Cromer
Olympic FC (Qld) v Melbourne Knights (Vic) – Goodwin Park, Yeronga
South Springvale (Vic) v South Cardiff FC (NSW) – Kingston Heath, Cheltenham
Tuesday 5 August
Newcastle Jets (NSW) v Perth Glory (WA) – Wanderers Oval, Broadmeadow
Parramatta FC (NSW) v St Albans Saints (Vic) – Melita Stadium, Sefton
South Hobart (Tas) v Tuggeranong United (ACT) – KGV Park, Hobart
Adelaide United (SA) v Wellington Phoenix (NZ) – Marden Sports Complex, Adelaide
Tuesday 12 August
Blacktown City (NSW) v Bentleigh Greens (Vic) – Lily Homes Stadium, Seven Hills
Melbourne City (Vic) v Sydney FC (NSW) – Morshead Park, Ballarat
Adelaide City (SA) v Western Sydney Wanderers (NSW) – Marden Sports Complex, Adelaide
Sydney United 58 FC (NSW) v FNQ Heat (Qld) – Sydney United Sports Centre, Edensor Park
Tuesday 19 August
Stirling Lions (WA) v Brisbane Roar (Qld) – Western Australia Athletics Stadium, Perth
Hakoah Sydney City (NSW) v Palm Beach Sharks (Qld) – Hensley Athletic Field, Pagewood
Wednesday 20 August
South Coast Wolves (NSW) v Central Coast Mariners (NSW) – WIN Stadium, Wollongong
Bayswater City (WA) v Melbourne Victory (Vic) – Western Australia Athletics Stadium, Perth
AZ_RBB
Guest
Its just that most attacking positions are taken up now. It seems unlikely we'll spend marquee wages on a full back but hey who knows. Also the incentive for WSW to have a marquee is minimal. I expect season tickets to sell out before October regardless of our acquisitions.
Scott
Roar Pro
I agree with AR. Especially when u play each other 3 times in a season If u played 1 home 1 away, then both games should be played at anz , not 1 at anz 1 at sfs. That I would understand. If wanders hosted a grand final against sfc , should they play at Parramatta?
Bondy
Guest
Evan Askew I think the lightings ok also . Better than what I thought it would be, they're better than normal training lights at night ....
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Yes, that video suggests the lighting is fine - judging by the shadows of the players, there must also be lights on the side opposite the grandstands? And, totally agree - that video footage is all that we need.
AR
Guest
"Because it is never a great thing when you always sell your soul for the almighty dollar." SVB, I'm not talking about always selling your soul. I'm talking about one game a season.
Scott
Roar Pro
I agree , they are the best looking so far. I think it's the later unfortunately. They may even play in a revised kit. We'll have to wait and see.
Evan Askew
Guest
Here is footage of a match at Macedonia park at nighttime, though it is a preseason match. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO6v_7Odxa0 In myopinion the ameteur broadcasters do a pretty good job. If the match is being moved to the WA Athletics field because of the wishes of Foxtel, I have to ask why. This ground looks very similar to many stadiums used during the NSL era. SBS and ABC were able to manage the job of broadcasting games back then to an excelent standard. Why can't fox do it? (Assuming that is the reason why, I don't know if it is.) Basically the clubs involved and the FFA can play the game wherever they want. It is there decision. It just seems to me that Macedonia Park is tailor made for the FFA cup where crowds are possibly going to be smaller than what they are in the A league and if it becomes standard policy to play FFA cup games at larger venues then the FFA CUP is not going to be everything that it could be.
Scott
Roar Pro
How does the new Scot defender play? I'm tipping the Tasmanians comfortably through this round.
ken
Guest
What makes you think we won't get marquee? When did Ono join in season 1? Quite late if I recall correctly.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
I've attached the Google satellite image of Macedonian Park. There are shadows on the grandstand side that suggests there may be 4 lights on the grandstand? http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r621/FussIUL/MacedoniaPark_zpsf7695794.jpg But would they be adequate for playing a competitive match? They look like training lights, but we'll need local input to provide a definitive answer.
Fadida
Guest
That's South Hobart. Guy on the right is Andy Brennan. Electric striker
Evan Askew
Guest
@ Fuss,I was referring to the Stirling Lions game being at the Athletics ground. Obviously if Bayswater don't have lighting or lighhting that is inadequate then they have to play at a ground that does. In such case I will defer to the opinion of WA locals on whether the WA athletics fields are the best replacements. In the case of Stirling Lions v Brisbane Roar, they are talking about 5000 attending that game. 5000 at Maccedonia park would look utterly awesome, I don't know how 5000 is going to look at the WA Athletics stadium though. (assuming they get that) If Macedonia Park doesn't have lighting or insufficient lighting then I stand corrected.
SVB
Guest
I don't trust ANZ Stadium. They have been the architects in ensuring that Parramatta Stadium doesn't get expanded to 30,000. I don't want two stadiums in Sydney. I want several so we have some diversity and options to play the right game out of the right stadium. You give these big stadiums too much control and they will lure you in and kill of every other half decent stadium in Sydney that had any atmosphere.
Scott
Roar Pro
RBB I'm not talking about their sponsor. I'm talking about the tournament sponsor. http://www.southcardiff.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/photo.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BtJGiQuCAAApp95.jpg:large http://www.melbourneknights.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/10525064_754532804570212_585694947_n.jpg
AZ_RBB
Guest
I don't get the sentiment of "where will it stop?" When billion dollar clubs increase prices by $10 just to make a few extra million, that's selling your soul. A young club barely breaking even wanting to make a ton of money very quickly as well as giving more fans the opportunity to watch their favourite team, is far from selling its soul. If anything, it's doing the right thing not only for its stakeholders but also the competition. If WSW v MVFC can get 60k, then lets take that to ANZ as well. I want WSW to be the biggest club possible and A-League to be as big as possible. Any fixture capable of drawing over 50k+ should not be restricted to a 19k stadium at least not at this stage of Australian football's growth.
RBBAnonymous
Guest
Alll the knights have done is cleverly circumvent the national identity policy. The clubs sponsor is the social club, nothing to see here. Where there is a will there is a way. Good on them too.
Justin Mahon
Roar Rookie
Interesting - I noticed that too. If they have lacked 'vision, I won't be too harsh on them. Its their strip and I am just pleased that they are part of the a national cup competition. IF (read the 'if') the Knights (my local club, although I am a South Melbourne supporter) have just ignored licencing criteria in some way I hope the FFA throw the book at them and/or simply award the win to their opponents. I hope this is not the case, but the Knights have established themselves as the 'Anti-FFV/FFA' poster children and appear to be deriving perverse pleasure from doing so. That all said, I love the Knights cup shirt. Definitely the best one I have seen so far. Now - 'cue the trolls'.
SVB
Guest
Because it is never a great thing when you always sell your soul for the almighty dollar. One day ANZ Stadium have us in there for the Derby. The next day we are playing all our home games at an 80,000 seat stadium with 15 to 20,000 in attendance. We have a home ground at Parramatta and it gives us a huge advantage. We should concentrate on building on that. Next thing you know we will be playing out of the same stadium as Sydney FC :(
AR
Guest
I think a Sydney derby (perhaps the 3rd one each season) would be great at ANZ. Why not be all you can be?
Scott
Roar Pro
After seeing 3 FFA cup strips online ( knights, south Hobart and south Cardiff) it seems clubs have been forced to display the cup logo and sponsors name on a white badge "anywhere" on the front of the shirt. What interesting is wether knights ignored the FFAs request and did what they wanted. Which IMO looks better. Or the other 2 clubs failed miserably with lack of vision.