From who we’re bringing to how you can see the match, see the five things you need to know about our Westfield FFA Cup Round of 32 clash.
Positive pre-season
It’s been smooth sailing for Melbourne City this pre-season with six weeks under the belt and two extremely positive pre-season fixtures ahead of Tuesday’s FFA Cup clash. It’s a stark contrast to last year’s preparation for this stage of the tournament with a host of injuries and the opportunity for four National Youth League players to receive their first taste of senior football for the Club against Edgeworth.
This time around, City will be in a much stronger position personnel wise to tackle whatever Floreat Athena throws at them.
Floreat form
Our opponents have ramped up their preparations heading into the contest, taking out Western Australia’s cup competition the week before and surviving a late scare last weekend to establish themselves in the top four of the WA NPL.
A double from captain Ludovic Boi headlined the performance against Stirling Lions and Coach Glen Grostate said his side had the Club’s first foray onto the national stage in their mind on Saturday.
“We had to come here and get the three points today even though we had one eye on Tuesday night,” Grostate said.
“We’ve come into this game off the back of an unbeaten run with a trophy in the cabinet already and we’re playing good football.
“Now we get to play Melbourne City, who are one of the best teams in Australia, and we will go out there and give it a good old crack.
“They’re supposed to win. They have to win. But anything is possible in a cup game.”
Keep an eye out for Jonathan Stynes and Lewis McMahon as they’ll look to cause havoc for the City defence on Tuesday night with Floreat looking to create the second A-League vs federation club upset in the FFA Cup.
Who are we bringing to Perth?
A strong City side will be heading to Perth to take on Floreat Athena with John van’t Schip confirming two definite exclusions from his current side.
Corey Gameiro won’t make the trip across the Nullarbor as he completes his final stages of ACL rehab while Neil Kilkenny was ruled out with a foot injury that would have been too risky for the former Preston North End midfielder to participate. Kilkenny will make a full return from his injury when the side arrives back from Perth.
Match Details
Floreat Athena v Melbourne City FC
Tuesday 2 August 2016
Dorrien Gardens, West Perth (WA)
Kick-off: 6.30pm local (8:30pm AEST)
Referee: Adam Fielding
Assistant Referee 1: Josh Mannella
Assistant Referee 2: Matthew Southern
Fourth Official: Tom Dowle
Tickets: Click here for ticketing details
Online Broadcast: Streamed online at www.foxsports.com.au/football/ffa-cup/ffacupondemand and Apple TV via FOX SPORTS Now
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #FLOvMCY #FFACup
Floreat Athena squad: 1.Jason Saldaris (gk), 2.Shaun Timmins, 3.Blair Govan, 4.Andrew Scaldaferro, 5.Bobby Wilson, 6.Clayton Arnez, 8.Jonathan Stynes, 9.Spiro Dimitriou, 10.Kris Gate, 11.Dennis Galan, 12.Nathan Scully, 13.Aaron Delany, 14.Ludovic Boi, 15.Christopher Saldaris, 16.Steve Kantor, 17.Dean Evans, 18.Phillip Arnold, 19.Lewis McMahon, 20.Robert Gasper, 23.Jordan Barbas (gk), 33.Cameron Yorke
Melbourne City FC squad: 1.Thomas Sorensen (gk), 2.Manny Muscat, 4.Connor Chapman, 6.Osama Malik, 11.Bruce Kamau, 12.Nick Fitzgerald, 17.Daniel Arzani, 18.Paulo Retre, 20.Dean Bouzanis (gk), 21.Ruon Tongyik, 22.Jack Clisby, 23.Bruno Fornaroli, 25.Jacob Melling, 26.Luke Brattan, 27.Fernando Brandan, 28.Steve Kuzmanovski, 29.Anthony Caceres, 30.Luke Gallo, 34.Denis Genreau, 35.Bradley Clarke, 36.Austin Wong, 37.Yusuf Ahmed
Streaming details
The ONLY way you can watch Tuesday’s match in full is on Fox Sports ‘FFA Cup On Demand’ live streaming service on their website. This can be accessed through the web browser or Apple TV via Fox Sports NOW.
If you are a current Fox Sports subscriber but don’t have a Foxtel My Account login, you can register by visiting www.foxtel.com.au/myaccount
To find out complete details on how to log in to FFA Cup On Demand, click here.
The magic of the cup is back!
We had a taste of football for the new season in the last couple of weeks but there is nothing quite like the nature of competition football.
‘The magic of the cup ‘is back for another season and the chance for us to pick up a piece of silverware starts on Tuesday night. Although it may seem like City are unbackable favourites for this one, always be wary of what any side can do in the short space of 90 minutes, especially with the eyes of the nation on them.
