Cup Preview: Adelaide Olympic v Adelaide Comets

Adelaide Olympic v Adelaide Comets
Westfield FFA Cup Qualifying Round 1

When: Saturday, April 4th. Kick-off 7:00pm
Where: Elite Systems Football Centre, Cowan Street, ANGLE PARK

Form:

Adelaide Olympic: W W W – NPL State League

Round 6: Adelaide Olympic 2 Adelaide Cobras 0, Elite Systems Football Centre
Round 7: Cumberland United 0 Adelaide Olympic 2, A.A. Bailey Reserve
Round 8: Adelaide Olympic 1 Adelaide United Youth 0, Elite Systems Football Centre

Adelaide Comets: L L L

Round 6: Adelaide Comets 0 Adelaide Blue Eagles 3, Santos Stadium
Round 7: Campbelltown City 1 Adelaide Comets 0, Steve Woodcock Sports Centre
Round 8: Adelaide Comets 1 West Torrens Birkalla 4, Roxby Leisure Centre – Roxby Downs

Preview:

The magic of the Westfield FFA Cup starts this weekend as Adelaide Olympic FC host Adelaide Comets. Both sides have had their ups and downs in their respective leagues and will want nothing more than progression to the next round.

Adelaide Olympic Captain Michael Paleka started off by talking about how his side has travelled this season.

“Being a fairly new team, we started off fairly slowly but the last three weeks we’ve managed to get some consistency with keeping the same starting 11 and the same sort of formation so it’s a lot better.”

When quizzed about the opportunity of playing in the Westfield FFA Cup, Paleka was emphatic in his side’s approach.

“I think it’s a pretty prestigious cup and you play every game to win and this won’t be any different to a league game, you want to go as far as possible.”

“Playing against a Premier League side, you want to prove you’re good enough to mix it with the top teams in the state and we’re not taking it lightly that’s for sure.”

Paleka also spoke about some internal standards his side hopes to continue this weekend in order to claim a win.

“We definitely like to score but for us, we’re putting a big emphasis on not conceding and the last three weeks we haven’t conceded and our thoughts are if you don’t concede, you don’t lose so hopefully it happens over the weekend.”

Their opponents have also seen plenty of highs and lows in their respective league campaign and Adelaide Comets’ John Karatzas gave his thoughts.

“It’s been obviously a bit up and down, we’ve started off really well but lost the last four in a row but we’re retaining systems and we’re finding the right mix but the morale is still good so we should come together quite well.”

Karatzas also left no doubt about his side’s approach to this match.

“We want to win everything we can and go as far as we can in the league and the cup, this week against Olympic it’ll be no different to a league match, we’ll be there out to win and it’ll be a great clash with a bit of history there.”

And while the match may be against a team from a lower league, Karatzas said Comets won’t be taking their opponents lightly.

“That’s of huge importance, often you see in the cup, teams from the State League beating teams from the Premier League teams.”

“It’s about the mindset really, if you go in with a poor mindset, you’ll lose any match so it has to be the same as it would normally be.”

It was also clear that a win would mean much more than progression to the next round.

“Not only is that good for the game but it’s good to get your team in the winning mentality because we’ve lost 4 in a row so we really have to go in with a good mindset.”

Article by Matthew Carcich - @MattCarcich




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