Saturday will see a monster day of Football action at Deakin as the 2019 Men’s and Women’s Federation Cup competitions come to a close. The Women’s will kick-off at 4pm as Belconnen United and Woden-Weston battle for supremacy, while at 7pm Tigers FC and Canberra FC face off for a spot in the FFA Cup Round of 32. Check out all the details and previews of both matches below, as well as how to watch if you can’t make it to the ground.
Tickets will be by gate sale only, and prices are as follows |
Adults: $10
Children/Concession: $5
U/14’s: Free
Both games will be streamed live thanks to BarTV Sports on Facebook & Youtube.
Women’s Federation Cup Final |
Match Official: Delfina Dimoski
Assistant Referee 1: Lauren Hargrave
Assistant Referee 2: Aisha Strutt
Fourth Official: Georgia Ghirardello
Belconnen United v Woden-Weston – 4pm @ Deakin Stadium
Belconnen United will be aiming for an incredible fifth straight Federation Cup title when they take on Woden-Weston in the final at Deakin on Saturday afternoon. It’s the first time these two teams will match up, given that for Woden-Weston it is their first senior cup final as a club. United have seen off the Canberra United Academy in the big dance for the previous three years, but this year they disposed of them easily in the quarter-finals with a 6-0 win at Hawker courtesy of Caitlin Munoz’s five goals. Following that it took an extra-time thriller to get the job done against Canberra FC at this venue, with Munoz again starring with her penalty five minutes into stoppage time at the end of the extra period dragging Belconnen across the line.
Woden-Weston put in one of their most polished performances of the season in their quarter-final win against Gungahlin, ambushing their fellow top-four hopefuls out of the gates to score all four goals in the opening half hour as they finished 4-0 winners. After that, a 3-2 win over Canberra Olympic at Hawker in the semi-finals followed, putting the Wanderers through to their first cup final. They come into the game off the back of a 2-1 loss to the Canberra United Academy but matched the young side for much of the game and only lost to Hayley Taylor-Young’s stunner from a kick-off in the second half.
There will be some key matchups across the park, but one of the biggest questions for Woden-Weston is how they choose to deal with Belconnen’s plethora of attacking options. When these sides last met United played off Woden-Weston’s high line, with Maddy Whittall in particular causing a lot of problems with her pace as she got in behind.
Sofia Christopherson has excelled out wide for Woden-Weston this season chipping in three goals, while Cassia McGlashan has lead the scoring charge with five goals in the league. Both of them have the ability to cause problems for Belconnen but must be at their best, and be sure to adhere to their defensive duties when the Blue Devils have the ball to make life difficult when they play out from the back.
Woden-Weston will be underdogs against a team full of players who are no strangers to finals, but if the Wanderers can come out at 100% from the start they have more than enough ability and grit to challenge the reigning champions.
Can’t make it to Deakin? Catch all the action LIVE on BarTV Sports.
Men’s Federation Cup Final |
Match Official: Gary Vandeburgt
Assistant Referee 1: Alex McConachie
Assistant Referee 2: Nathan Shakespear
Fourth Official: Bruno Kehl
Tigers FC v Canberra FC – 7pm @ Deakin Stadium
Two familiar foes meet in the Men’s Final at 7pm, with both looking to book a spot in the FFA Cup National Round of 32. Canberra FC were victors in this game against Gungahlin United just a year ago but after being bundled out by Broadmeadow Magic the squad will be keen to make their mark by going further in the competition. They saw off Brindabella with a big scoreline in their first match of the cup this year, prevailed 1-0 over fierce rivals Canberra Olympic in early May and then beat ANU in extra-time to book their spot in the final.
Tigers took on Monaro as part of a Woden-Park double header to begin their campaign and prevailed thanks to Mark Shields’ solitary strike, before thumping the UC Pumas in their quarter-final. Next up was Tuggeranong United and Nico Abot turned in a two-goal performance to secure their passage to the Federation Cup final, a stage on which they have been runners-up on five occasions but never tasted success and they will aim to be Canberra’s fifth different representative on the FFA Cup’s national stage.
Abot himself will be one of the key figures in the final given his goalscoring form so far this season, and the Canberra FC defence is a far cry from the one that was all-conquering in 2018. Abot wasn’t able to net when these two met in round seven of the league a few weeks back but posed plenty of questions and will do the same here after a strong league performance in the win over Olympic on Sunday.
For Canberra FC one of their key players will be Mat Grbesa as he marshals the backline against the likes of Abot and Shields. Grbesa’s presence and on-field leadership are so valuable to Lka Ujdur’s side as well as his ability to mark and hassle the opponent’s best players. His contribution, as well as staying away from the referees notebook, will be a key to Ujdur’s men retaining the Federation Cup.
Can’t make it to Deakin? Catch all the action LIVE on BarTV Sports.
