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FFA Cup quarter-finals: Matchday 1 preview

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Roar Rookie
19th September, 2018
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Upsets, thrashings and wonder goals. This FFA Cup has been one of the most thrilling in the cup’s short history and finally, we’re down to the quarterfinals.

Melbourne City vs Western Sydney Wanderers

AAMI Park at 7:30pm (AEST)
In what will be a 2016 FFA Cup quarter-final replay, this game has all the ingredients to be a great matchup.

In the youngest matchup of the A-League, there have only been 18 games between these two sides. Both clubs are the ‘poster boys’ for expansion in the country, with one flourishing from financial gain and the other from continental success, they’ve paved the way for future expansion in the league and proven it can work.

The games between these two teams rarely lack excitement, with 56 goals scored in the league matches to date, that’s an average of just over 3 goals a game and we could be set to see more of that on Wednesday.

Melbourne’s previous match: Melbourne City 1-0 Newcastle Jets
The big-billed replay of the A-League semi-final, set to follow on from the hype of Riley McGree’s wondergoal and dramatic comeback that throttled Newcastle into the grand final. Did it disappoint? No, but it wasn’t spectacular.

The game ebbed and flowed but remained nil-all for the first half of the match. As the first half wound down and the second half began, you could sense the match was being played on City’s terms. With the Jets hardly fashioning any significant attempts on goal.

The game broke open in the 54th minute as City completed a well-executed link up passing play in order to find star striker Bruno Fornaroli some space and, as Fornaroli has done so often for Melbourne, he took a mile from an inch and finessed the ball into the top right corner of the Newcastle net.

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Bruno Fornaroli

(Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)

Western Sydney’s previous round: Bonnyrigg White Eagles 1-2 Western Sydney Wanderers
New recruit Alexander Baumjohann starred on debut as the Wanderers prevailed 2-1 against newly relegated NSW NPL outfit Bonnyrigg White Eagles.

A bumper crowd of more than 5000 at Marconi Stadium watched Bonnyrigg give Western Sydney yet another cup scare.

Former Bayern Munich attacker Baumjohann put the Wanderers 1-0 up after 12 minutes and looked lively in his first outing for the A-League club, setting up several other chances which went begging.

The White Eagles made them pay just after the hour mark, with Tynan Diaz bending in a free kick from the edge of the box. But nine minutes later, Western Sydney’s lead was restored through a Brendon Hamill header, a lead they’d maintain till the final whistle.

Prediction
Here’s a stat you won’t have seen in the paper, Melbourne City have conceded 6 goals in their preseason and FFA Cup run.

All 6 came against a side who defeated Tottenham Hotspur, Girona FC. Since their loss in India, City have been a brick wall with player of the year Bart Schenkeveld further asserting his place as arguably the league’s strongest defender and have only been bolstering their defence in the offseason.

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Signing Premier League winner Ritchie De Laet and former player Curtis Good alongside Socceroos capped goalkeeper Mark Birighitti, it will take something special for the Wanderers to break City’s back line.

City go in as heavy favourites against the out of form Wanderers, but coach Markus Babbel will fancy his side’s chances to beat City’s stellar defence.

Melbourne City 2-0 Western Sydney Wanderers

Avondale FC vs Sydney FC

ABD Stadium at 7:30pm (AEST)
Arguably the most surprising package of the cup so far, Avondale have twice rebutted the challenges of NPL teams trying to stake their name into the history books of Australian football, and they did it with ease. Smacking aside all who’ve come before them, they now face a totally different beast in the form of the reigning champions, Sydney FC.

Will Avondale pull off the spectacular? Can they knock off the champions to potentially guarantee an NPL team in the final for the first time ever?

Avondale’s previous round: Avondale FC 4-1 Devonport Strikers
An end-to-end whirlwind of a match took place in Avondale.

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The home side raced to a two-nil advantage after 36 minutes. But a converted penalty from Devonport’s goal-scoring machine Brayden Mann gave the Tasmanian’s a lifeline going into the break.

It was a tight back and forth for the ensuing half but a great individual goal by Elvis Kamsoba and a converted penalty from Jonathan Germano sealed the quarter-final.

It sent an ominous message to the remaining teams, don’t take Avondale lightly.

Sydney’s previous round: Cairns FC 1-2 Sydney FC
As Avondale’s game was somewhat out of the spotlight, Sydney’s game was front and centre as they went up against a club facing extinction in Cairns FC. With nothing to lose and the chance to knock off the champions, the North Queensland side came out with a ferocity that caught Sydney off guard, scoring after 17 minutes and dominating a large portion of the first half.

At the break, Sydney were staring down the barrel of an embarrassing exit and came out of the blocks hard and fast in an attempt to catch Cairns off guard, and for the first 20 minutes of the half, the Queensland side withstood the pressure, but unfortunately for them, a handball in their penalty area gifted Alex Brosque an equaliser, followed by a clean finish from new signing Trent Buhagiar and all of a sudden, Cairns were scaling a mountain to get back into the game.

In the 74th minute Cairns striker Jamie Carroll was clipped and awarded a penalty, and after a lacklustre shot from gun forward Chris O’Harewas saved superbly by Sydney keeper Andrew Redmayne it was an impossible task for Cairns to claw their way back into the match.

Prediction
Avondale will need a monumental effort in order to keep the likes of Sydney’s new signings Siem De Jong and Adam Le Fondre out of their net. If all cylinders fire at once for the Victorian team, they might have a shot.

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Sydney’s firepower will be too much for Avondale, it won’t be pretty.

Avondale 1-3 Sydney FC

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