Canberra Olympic head coach Frank Cachia has said that his team is ready and raring to go ahead of their FFA Cup clash with Sorrento FC in Perth on Wednesday night.
Last years semi-finalists left Canberra on Tuesday headed West, and Cachia said that the travel element could be the biggest factor for this years Round of 32 matchup.
“I think we’re going into it largely unknown because of the travel factor,” Cachia said when asked about his side’s chances.
“They [Sorrento] will be going in as favourites, they don’t have to move from their own backyard,” he told Monday’s media conference.
“But we know that we have ability within our squad and we’re confident that we can put in a good performance.”
And if that performance is anywhere near the level that we can play I think we’ll give a good account of ourselves.”
Sorrento FC, or the Gulls as they are more commonly known, currently sit fifth in WA’s very competitive Playstation 4 National Premier Leagues competition, only four points off the lead.
The Gulls made the Round of 32 as well in the 2015 edition of the cup, where they were drawn against A-League powerhouse Sydney FC, also the semi-final conquerors of Olympic last year.
The West Australian side were then eliminated in the preliminary rounds of last years tournament, but won through this year with a 1-0 victory over Dianella White Eagles to take one of WA’s two Round of 32 spots.
The PS4 NPL WA had the weekend off ahead of the cup ties, and while Olympic’s game with the FFA Centre of Excellence was postponed, Cachia said they made sure the team still had a solid hit out prior to travelling.
“We had an intra-club matchup on the weekend, that was a good game, and there’s a lot of boys sticking their hand up for a starting spot.”
“We’ve done everything we can to prepare, going there a day early and spending the night there, preparing on the day and coming back the day after.”
Canberra Olympic v Sorrento FC will kick off at 8:30pm AEST, and can be viewed online at foxsports.com.au.