Australia may be deep in the throes of winter, but its football scene is about to heat up.
Australia Cup season is finally upon us, and after months of preliminaries to set us up, 32 of the nation’s best clubs will battle it out for the right to lift the trophy and represent Australia in next year’s AFC Champions League Two.
This Tuesday marks the first of five matchdays in the Round of 32, and we’ve got three wildly different matches in three different parts of the country all kicking off at the same time.
So, without further ado, let’s get into each one and see what’s on tap.
Peninsula Power vs. Western Sydney Wanderers
First up on the official listings, we have a clash in Queensland with a potential cupset in the balance. Western Sydney Wanderers had a respectable run last year, reaching the quarterfinals before falling in extra time to Adelaide United.
They’ll hope to start on a strong note once again this year as they face Peninsula Power, who are back for the fourth time in five years after missing last year’s national rounds.
Peninsula Power needed just three matches in the Kappa Queensland Cup to get in here, but it wasn’t a cakewalk.
After taking down reigning state champions Queensland Lions FC, the Power almost got more than they bargained for against fifth-tier Marlin Coast Rangers, needing extra time and a Niyah Joseph hat-trick to escape and make the national rounds.
They’ll hope to defy history with this one, as aside from a 2022 run to the quarterfinals, every appearance in this cup has seen them immediately pancaked by visiting A-Leaguers.
The Wanderers, of course, will want to make that pattern work to their benefit, and it’d be right in line with their recent history.
WSW absolutely terrorised the Sunshine State last year, visiting and clobbering multiple NPL Queensland sides in the Cup before going undefeated against Brisbane Roar in the A-League.
Of course, they’ll need firepower to do that, and with key attackers Nicolas Milanović and Zac Sapsford off to opposite sides of Scotland’s New Firm, the Wanderers have turned to the local transfer market in search of replacements.
They’re hoping that Kosta Barbarouses remains an ageless wonder on the wing, and that Alou Kuol can bring winning ways up front like he did for Central Coast Mariners in their treble season.
If the Westies can get those two in sync, plus the inevitable academy and bench breakouts who are essential to any deep Australia Cup run, there’s no telling what their ceiling might be.
Western Sydney Wanderers’ Oscar Priestman. (Photo by Texi Smith)
Avondale vs. Stirling Macedonia
In a battle of two ambitious clubs from Australia’s second tier, Melbourne Italian side Avondale FC look to defend their turf against Stirling Macedonia, who’ve come all the way from Perth in pursuit of glory.
It’s been two years out of the national spotlight, but Avondale are back, and they had a relatively simple path back here through the Dockerty Cup.
After three consecutive pubstomps, the Avengers went scoreless through regulation against NPL Victoria rivals Dandenong Thunder, but Stefan Valentini came up clutch with a brace in extra time to get the Italians here.
Between the Cup and their foundation status in the Australian Championship, the Avengers now have two trips to the national stage booked for 2025, and if their form in league play is any indication, they’ll be up for the task.
Stirling Macedonia, on the other hand, had to earn their one and only shot through Western Australia’s State Cup, and the Lions were cardiac cats there. In the final two matches to earn this opportunity, Stirling needed penalty kicks in one and extra time in the other to survive.
That likely influenced last month’s splash signing, as the Macedonians brought striker Leigh Griffiths into the fold. With three Scottish Cups and four Scottish League Cups from his long star turn at Celtic, Griffiths knows what it takes to win in knockout competitions, and if they can get him fit and firing, he could still be the deadliest weapon on any pitch.
Darwin Olympic vs. Nunawading City
Finally, we turn our attention to the Northern Territory for the biggest underdog story of the Cup.
Though Darwin Olympic have some David cred in their own right, just for where they’re from, they’ll be the overwhelming Goliaths when they host fourth-tier Nunawading City, the only club from that far down the pyramid to reach our national bracket.
Given that Nunawading sit midtable in VPL 2, you’d be forgiven for not expecting much out of them in this year’s Dockerty Cup, even after three successful rounds as easy favourites.
However, it was their visit to North Sunshine Eagles in the state’s Round of 16 that really put people on notice, as Nuna proceeded to silence the home fans with a 4-1 win.
That set up a clash against Hume City, who very nearly reached the Australia Cup semis last year thanks to Sudanese international Aamir Abdallah. However, the Turks’ hopes collapsed in a hurry, as Nunawading kicked in the door and blasted home four to earn both a Dockerty Cup semifinal spot and the first trip to the national rounds in team history.
Now, Nuna hope to repeat the shock Melbourne Srbija pulled off last year by reaching the Round of 16.
Darwin Olympic, meanwhile, had to fight for the Northern Territory’s only spot in the competition formerly known as the Sports Minister’s Cup. They certainly caught a break early on, with a bye straight from the Round of 16 to the semis, but they paid for it on the back end.
In the final, league rivals Mindil Aces took the Greeks all the way to penalty kicks, but with a Dyan Newall save and a Christian Mukudju strike, the Reds cathartically broke through to win the tournament for a record third time.
Now that they’re here, this becomes a matter of pride that goes far beyond the team. From Olympic’s own 6-1 shellacking at Adelaide United’s hands in 2015 to Darwin Hearts falling 6-0 last year in an absolutely nuclear second-half meltdown, Northern Territory teams have a long history of getting posterised at this stage in the competition.
In fact, no team from the Top End has ever reached the Round of 16, and we can expect Olympic to be absolutely ruthless in their quest to be the first.
