Finals Week 1 Preview: West Torrens Birkalla v Campbelltown City

West Torrens Birkalla v Campbelltown City
PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia Elimination Semi Final

When: Friday, August 21 2015. Kick-off 7:00pm
Where: Adelaide Shores Football Centre, West Beach Road, WEST BEACH

Teams:

West Torrens Birkalla: 80 J. Cirillo14 L. D'Arrigo4 T. Dittmar24 T. Kawamura11 R. Kitto7 A. Miyayama2 S. Nagel8 T. Quaglia10 P. Radice3 K. Rowe12 C. Skull6 D. Solari20 N. Temby1 J. Torresan5 H. Vuckic18 J. Watson

Campbelltown City: 1 M. Moore7 L. Ditroia4 I. Fyfe3 M. Graham2 S. Harvey18 K. Minomura11 J. Monaco6 V. Parhas8 K. Hara15 M. Matricciani16 A. Ture20 N. Harpas5 A. Kaine12 A. Masone13 T. Mcsorley14 R. Townsend

Form:

West Torrens Birkalla: W L W

Round 24: West Torrens Birkalla 3 Raiders 0, Jack Smith Park
Round 25: Adelaide City 3 West Torrens Birkalla 0, Adelaide City Park
Round 26: West Torrens Birkalla 4 White City 2, Jack Smith Park

Campbelltown City: L W W

Round 24: Campbelltown City 0 Adelaide City 4, Steve Woodcock Sports Centre
Round 25: Campbelltown City 1 White City 0, Steve Woodcock Sports Centre
Round 26: Campbelltown City 3 South Adelaide Panthers 1, Steve Woodcock Sports Centre

Preview:

West Torrens Birkalla and Campbelltown City will put it all on the line when they clash at The Shores in the first elimination final of the PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia. Only one team can progress and it’s sure to bring the best out of both teams.

Birkalla keeper and Captain Julian Torresan gave his thoughts on how he rates his side’s form entering this match.

“We sat down as a team and discussed a few things that we need to do. We have picked up a full squad again and coming into finals we have all of our players.”

Out of all the teams participating in finals, Birkalla have conceded the most goals and Torresan was asked if something needs to be done to rectify that.

“We do but at the same time we are a very attacking side, we do attack a lot and it does leave ourselves exposed at the back but we tend to take that risk as such and you can’t win games unless you score goals. We probably won’t change that too much to be honest because we know we’re good at scoring goals.”

“It’s not a real concern to us because we know on our day we’ll score more goals than concede.”

Birkalla suffered a 1-0 loss in Round 22 to Campbelltown but Torresan dismissed the significance of that result.

“If you ask anyone that was there at the game everyone says to us that we should’ve won the game hands down.

Although the result didn’t show how we played, we know as a team we played really well against Campbelltown and we think we can produce that again.”

This time around it’s finals and Torresan spoke about what the message has been to his side.

“We got a really young squad so a lot of these boys haven’t played finals before so they need to learn how to deal with pressure situations and we’ve sat down and said you need to be patient and soak up the pressure and deal with things as they come."

His opposing captain for Campbelltown City, Vas Parhas, will be doing everything in his power to get his side over the line. City dropped as low as seventh in Round 19 and Parhas was asked what has been the catalyst for his side’s ability to pick themselves up and qualify for finals.

“I think the thought of playing in the finals as it got closer provided us with a huge amount of incentive and we increased our work rate pretty significantly through training and just being able to get a consistent 11 out on the park and I think all those factors came together and resulted in our results.”

According to Parhas this has reaped many benefits for City.

“We’re really confident; we’re really enjoying our football. It feels like the past month we’ve gelled and it’s a really enjoyable thing when you feel like you’re fit and you’re nailing the strategy that the coaches are applying.”

One major factor that will spur City on is the disappointment of not playing finals last year.

“Absolutely, last year was a bitter disappointment. This year our goal at the start of the year was to make the finals series and once you’re there it’s just incredibly exciting. It goes without saying every team in the finals is super motivated.”

Parhas was also quick to diminish the importance of City’s 1-0 win over Birkalla.

“I don’t believe so. They beat us during the year, we beat them during the year, and I think we’re two very evenly matched sides. The play a possession based game much like we do.

“They have a quick side as do we, I think when you look over the two sides there are strengths and similarities in very similar areas and I think for that reason not much separates the two sides.”

Article by Matthew Carcich - @Matt_Carcich

 

 

 




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