Canberra Olympic and Tigers FC will this Saturday contest the 2nd annual Capital Football Charity Shield at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval.
The clash will be a rematch of the Federation Cup Final of 2016, where Olympic won through to the National Round of the Westfield FFA Cup.
Canberra Olympic have strengthened their attack following the departure of star striker Philippe Bernabo-Madrid, with the arrival of Stephen Domenici from this weekend’s opponents.
“We’ve introduced some new faces,” said Olympic coach Frank Cachia.
“We’ve had three boys come across from the [Canberra United] Academy, obviously Stephen Domenici has come across, and I think everyone has gelled quite well since they’ve come in and we’re pretty stable,” he said.
Tigers FC will come into this match off the back of a four-day trip to New Zealand, and while Gaby Wilk admits his players are a bit tired, he is happy with how they look heading into the new season.
“We are feeling good, it’s been a hard pre-season,” Wilk said.
“We haven’t really had any rest the last few days, just coming back from New Zealand. The boys look good, just a little bit tired.”
The match serves as a perfect final hit out with only two weeks to go before the 2017 Playstation 4 National Premier Leagues kicks off, and with both sides likely to be battling it out at the top, it will be a good barometer for where they are at so close to the start.
“We have been playing interstate sides the whole way through this pre-season so this will be a real indication of where we are at,” Cachia said.
“Against a quality local side that really ran us close last season in every competition, so it will be a really good indication.”
CanTeen representative Christopher Ward was positive about the opportunity given to advertise the work that CanTeen do.
“It’s fantastic, every opportunity to get out and talk to new people and let them know what we do at CanTeen is fantastic,” he said.
“And we do a lot of great work and a lot of people in the football community might not know about it so that is great too.”
The Charity Shield will kick off at 6pm at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval, this Saturday the 18th March.