FFSA Charity Cup Match Preview: West Adelaide v Croydon Kings

West Adelaide and Croydon Kings will continue the on field rivalry when they meet at Elite Systems Football Centre on Friday night in the FFSA Charity Cup supporting beyondblue. The game will be the prelude to the 2016 PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia season.

In what shapes to be another enthralling encounter between these two sides, the coaches from both teams will be seeking early bragging rights as they enter another competitive season.

After the sudden departure of Weins, Pepe and Welsh to Adelaide Comets in the off-season, Croydon Kings coach Mark Brazzale has gone on the front foot in exposing the young talent that he has on his roster to match day pressure during the preseason games.

The exposure has given the young playing group every opportunity to show their wares.

Brazzale will use Friday night’s game against last season’s Premiers to fine-tune his game plan.

Peter Mercurio, one of  the young midfielders in the Croydon squad, who will unfortunately miss the game as he battles Osteitis Pubis, believes the off season signings of Elvis Kamsoba (Raiders), James Skeffington (Pirates)  and Frankie Marafioti (Para Hills Knights) will give the Kings real fire power up front.

“The likes of (Rocky) Visconte,and Skeffington will give good service to our forwards. We will need to capitalize on our scoring opportunities to have a chance of victory,” Mercurio said.

“We go into this game on Friday night to make an early statement for the upcoming season, and we have set our sights on a finals berth for 2016,” he added.

Shaun McGreevy, Kamsoba and Marafioti will have to be at their best if they are to penetrate the rock-solid West Adelaide defense ably led by Robby Lippett and the ever-reliable Eli Vlasiss.

West Adelaide’s new signing, former Metrostars attacking midfielder Perry Mitris will cause havoc through the wing channel if he is allowed open space to weave his magic.

A notable goal scorer, Mitris in combination with Tommy Briscoe, Ricardo Da Silva and Alex Rideout, gives West Adelaide a powerful goal-scoring arsenal.

“Our real strength is that the team as a whole is hungry and determined to succeed, something I picked up when I first stepped foot through the doors at West Adelaide.”

“We have a lot of depth in the squad so spots in the team are very competitive. We want to use this game as a springboard for the 2016 NPL season,” he said.

The duel between Visconte and Da Silva in the middle of the park will be a highlight of the game. Both are skillful ball players that will create chances for their teammates up field. If allowed to venture close to goal, both players are capable of hurting the opposition on the score board.

The memory of the 6-1 drubbing at the hands of West Adelaide in last season’s Round 25 game will be used by the Croydon Kings as a motivating catalyst going into the FFSA Charity Cup. A win for the young Croydon lineup will be an invaluable confidence boost going into next week’s season opener.

West Adelaide coach Paul Pezos will have the challenge of choosing his line up from a powerful squad oozing talent. Pezos will be looking for his chargers to continue their dominance over the Kings and nothing short of a strong performance will be accepted by the coach and loyal supporters.

Written by Joe Pangallo

 

 

 

 




Comments

Comment Guidelines: The SportsTG Network is made up of players, families and passionate sports followers like you who have a strong opinion about sport. That's great - we want you to have your say and share your thoughts with the world. However, we have a few rules that you must follow to keep it fun for all. Please don't be rude, abusive, swear or vilify others. Apart from some pretty serious sport sanctions, we also can ban you and report you if things get out of hand. So play fair and have fun, and thanks for your contribution.

Create A Team App Account.

Stack Team App is a platform that allows teams and social groups to improve communication by creating their own smartphone app.

Create A Team/Club