A team made up predominantly of tradesmen are preparing for the biggest match of their lives as Darwin Rovers FC, the minnows from the Top End, take on the reigning Hyundai A-League Champions and Premiers Sydney FC tomorrow night (Wednesday 2 August 2017) at Darwin Football Stadium in match day three of the Westfield FFA Cup Round of 32.
In the history of the Westfield FFA Cup there has arguably never been a more definitive case of David against Goliath as an amateur team that trains in a local Darwin parkland gears up to face a Sydney FC side that took all before them last season, losing just one game on their way to the Hyundai A-League double.
The match will be Darwin Rovers’ second taste of the Round of 32 after they hosted Queensland NPL side Brisbane Strikers at Marrara last year, the home team’s entrance to the venue in a stretch Hummer organised by striker and limousine driver Simon Bell taking some of the attention away from the final score line as they went down 6-0.
The FOX SPORTS broadcast match of night three promises to be an absorbing contest between current PlayStation 4 NPL NSW league leaders Blacktown City and the Central Coast Mariners on the synthetic surface at Lily Homes Stadium.
Blacktown City are just one of three Member Federation clubs to be featuring in the Round of 32 for a fourth straight year and there should be a big crowd in Seven Hills to see if they can topple a Central Coast Mariners side that had a Westfield FFA Cup to forget last year when they were bundled out by Victorian side Green Gully in the Round of 32.
But the Mariners of then and now are vastly different under current Head Coach Paul Okon who is moulding an impressive squad following a host of off season signings including young gun midfielder Daniel De Silva, experienced defender Alan Baro from Melbourne Victory and returning fan favourite Josh Rose.
Blacktown City were ultimately outclassed by Sydney FC in last year’s Quarter Finals but coming up to the business end of their league season and playing at home, they will fancy their chances of causing an upset.
The other two matches of the night features a double dose in Queensland. Round of 32 debutantes Moreton Bay United host Northern NSW Football’s Broadmeadow Magic, the club that played in the first ever Westfield FFA Cup broadcast match in 2014.
Moreton Bay scored a valuable away win in the league on the weekend and will be hoping to carry the momentum into their match at home against a Magic side that is starting to hit its straps at the right time of the season.
Western Australian State League 1 side Western Knights will attempt to join fellow Football West side Sorrento in the last 16 when they meet Gold Coast City at Mallawa Sporting Complex in Palm Beach.
In a remarkable Cup run that has seen them eliminate two former Round of 32 entrants on their way to the Final Rounds, the Western Knights face a highly fancied Gold Coast City with nothing to lose and urged on by a solid contingent of travelling supporters making the long flight across the country to watch their team in action.
Gold Coast City, the 2014 Quarter Finalists who formerly competed under the name Palm Beach Sharks, come into their third appearance in the Round of 32 sitting top of PS4 NPL Queensland and having scored 10 goals, conceding just one, in their three Preliminary Round matches.
All four matches will observe a moments silence prior to kick-off as a tribute following the passing of Australian football icon Les Murray. The players will also wear black armbands as a sign of respect.
Further to the full broadcast of Blacktown City against the Central Coast Mariners, FOX SPORTS will have LIVE updates and crosses to the other three matches, which will also be streamed at https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/ffa-cup/live-stream.
For ticketing details on all four matches, click here.
The Round of 32 continues tonight headlined by the FOX SPORTS broadcast of Heidelberg United against Perth Glory from Olympic Village.
Westfield FFA Cup 2017 Round of 32 – Match Day 3 Fixtures
Blacktown City v Central Coast Mariners
Wednesday 2 August 2017
Lily Homes Stadium, Seven Hills (NSW)
Kick-off: 7:30pm local (7:30pm AEST)
Referee: Adrian Arndt
Assistant Referee 1: Lance Greenshields
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Powers
Fourth Official: Ben Abraham
Tickets: Click here for ticketing details
TV Broadcast: 7.00pm (AEST) Live and exclusive on FOX SPORTS (Channel 505)
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tags #BLCvCCM #FFACup
Blacktown City squad: 1.Tristan Prendergast (gk), 3.Giorgio Speranza, 4.Roberto Speranza, 5.Grant Lynch, 6.Matthew Lewis, 8.Daniel Araujo, 9.Joseph Gibbs, 10.Connor Evans, 11.Danny Choi, 12.James Andrew, 14.Mitchell Mallia, 15.Shayne D’Cunha, 16.Dakota Askew, 17.Lewis Beumie, 18.Mason Ireland, 19.Zachary Cairncross, 20.Dylan Niski (gk), 21.Bo Hyun (Kenny) Chun, 22.Yuta Konagaya, 24.Samuel Hamilton
Central Coast Mariners squad: 2.Storm Roux, 3.Josh Rose, 5.Antony Golec, 6.Tom Hiariej, 7.Andrew Hoole, 8.Blake Powell, 10.Daniel De Silva, 11.Connor Pain, 12.Trent Buhagiar, 13.Kwabena Appiah, 14.Adam Berry, 15.Alan Baro, 16.Liam Rose, 17.Josh Bingham, 19.Harry Ascroft, 20.Adam Pearce (gk), 21.Kye Rowles, 22.Jake McGing, 40.Thomas Glover (gk)
Unavailable: 1.Ben Kennedy (gk)
Moreton Bay United v Broadmeadow Magic
Wednesday 2 August 2017
Wolter Park, Albany Creek (QLD)
Kick-off: 7:30pm local (7:30pm AEST)
Referee: Chris Beath
Assistant Referee 1: David Walsh
Assistant Referee 2: James Sherry
Fourth Official: Alex King
Tickets: Click here for ticketing details
Broadcast: Streamed LIVE at https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/ffa-cup/live-stream
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tags #MBUvBMA #FFACup
Moreton Bay United squad: 1.Joshua Lagudah (gk), 2.Sam Dickinson, 3.Jacob Mitchell, 4.Matthew Byrne, 5.Jordan Loy, 6.Rhys Raymond, 7.Kyusub Bang, 8.Matthew Capelo, 9.Riley Campbell, 10.Donggyu Lee, 11.Stephen Green, 13.Cameron Millar, 14.Alex Janovsky, 15.Corey Lucas, 16.Lachlan Strogusz, 17.Byron Sinnerton, 18.Declan Smith, 19.Corey Salvati, 20.Jordan Thurtell (gk), 21.Jordan Dozzi, 24.Paul Mikula, 25.Riley Stent (gk), 26.Rhys Gywnn-Jones
Broadmeadow Magic squad: 1.Nikolas Giantsopoulos (gk), 2.Scott Robertson, 3.Joshua Piddington, 4.Benjamin Higgins, 5.Luke Virgili, 6.Alex Kantarovski, 7.James Virgili, 8.Matthew Hoole, 9.Peter Haynes, 10.Scott Pettit, 11.Dino Fajkovic, 12.Shane Paul, 14.Jon Griffiths, 15.Samuel Webb, 16.Anthony Konjarski, 18.Charlie Cox, 19.Kale Bradbery, 20.Jeremy Wilson, 21.Wade Southall, 22.Lawrence Foteff, 23.Takumi Sunada, 24.David Ifield, 27.Jacob Dowse, 66.Bradley Mackenzie (gk)
Gold Coast City v Western Knights
Wednesday 2 August 2017
Mallawa Sporting Complex, Palm Beach (QLD)
Kick-off: 7:30pm local (7:30pm AEST)
Referee: Casey Reibelt
Assistant Referee 1: Ashley Beecham
Assistant Referee 2: Joey Lee
Fourth Official: Cameron Fawcett
Tickets: Click here for ticketing details
Broadcast: Streamed LIVE at https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/ffa-cup/live-stream
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tags #GCCvWKN #FFACup
Gold Coast City squad: 1.Matt Stein (gk), 2.Riley Dillon, 3.Oskar Dillon, 4.Martin Vazquez, 5.Matthew Schmidt, 6.Roman Hofmann, 7.Justyn McKay, 8.Harry Liebke, 9.Jarrod Kyle, 10.Jacob Boutoubia, 11.Nik Mirkovic, 14.Benjamin Lyvidikos, 15.Eoghan Murphy, 16.Tom Miller, 18.Jason Campbell, 19.Ethan Grimley, 20.Josh Langdon (gk), 21.Sam Smith, 22.Jaiden Walker
Unavailable: 12.Joshua Mussell (suspended)
Western Knights squad: 1.Samuel Stone (gk), 2.Thomas Southgate, 5.Graham Tough, 6.Ben Coulter, 7.Ryan Haslett, 8.Brian Patterson, 9.John Chalmers, 10.Paul Lloyd, 12.Ryan Tucker, 13.Harry Hall, 14.Lee Theole, 15.Adriano Jelenovic, 17.Delan De Silva, 18.James Burns, 20.Samuel Hutchings (gk), 21.Joshua Cortes, 27.Kevin Ashwood
Unavailable: 3.David Murphy (suspended)
Darwin Rovers v Sydney FC
Wednesday 2 August 2017
Darwin Football Stadium, Darwin NT
Kick-off: 7:00pm local (7:30pm AEST)
Referee: Daniel Elder
Assistant Referee 1: Samuel Kuys
Assistant Referee 2: Aaron Galanti
Fourth Official: Jacob Betros
Tickets: Click here for ticketing details
Broadcast: Streamed LIVE at https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/ffa-cup/live-stream
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tags #DARvSYD #FFACup
Darwin Rovers squad: 1.Matthew Ashton (gk), 2.Marvin Wilding, 3.Warren Behan, 4.Daniel Sith, 5.Dexter Newman, 6.Warren Barry, 7.Gary Molloy, 8.Matthew Cawley, 9.Carl Marshall, 10.Simon Bell, 11.Dean Molloy, 12.Samuel Rowley, 13.Stephen Elliott, 14.David McDonnell, 15.Christopher Rowley, 16.Sean McCarthy, 17.Robert Ward, 18.Mathew McGee (gk), 19.Robert Justo, 20.Kyle Budd, 21.Mohammed Monsaray
Sydney FC squad: 1.Andrew Redmayne (gk), 5.Jordy Buijs, 6.Josh Brillante, 7.Michael Zullo, 8.Paulo Retre, 9.BOBÔ, 10.Milos Ninkovic, 13.Brandon O’Neill, 17.David Carney, 18.Matt Simon, 19.Chris Zuvela, 20.Thomas Heward-Belle (gk), 21.Charles Lokoli Ngoy, 22.Sebastian Ryall, 24.Matthew Green, 25.John Iredale, 27.Nicola Kuleski, 31.Patrick Flottmann
Unavailable: 2.Aaron Calver, 4.Alex Wilkinson, 14.Alex Brosque, 23.Rhyan Grant
* squads are subject to change
