Adelaide United coach Marco Kurz said his side takes the FFA Cup so seriously because of the competitive match practice it gives them in their bid for Hyundai A-League glory.
For the second season in a row, Kurz has guided United to the FFA Cup final and, once again, they will meet Sydney FC in the showpiece occasion.
United beat three Hyundai A-League teams en route to last year’s final, which they lost in extra time, but have had a different path to the 2018 decider.
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In fact, after seeing off the Central Coast Mariners in the round of 32, Adelaide have faced NPL opposition in three successive rounds, proving too good for Queensland Lions, APIA Leichhardt and Bentleigh Greens.
Despite the absence of continued Hyundai A-League opposition, the intensity of play in the cut-throat FFA Cup has remained, giving Adelaide a series of fixtures that Kurz prefers far more than pre-season friendlies.
“You do have a long time for training (in the pre-season), but it is hard to find opponents,” Kurz told Simon Hill in an interview with Fox Sports.
“You can only play against your local teams, and the quality is sometimes not so high.
“You need to play against A-League teams, but then you have to fly - so it’s not perfect.
“That’s why it is important to reach the latter rounds of the FFA Cup, because then you have official matches, you play strong teams.
“That is always our aim in pre-season.”
United have scored eight goals in this season’s FFA Cup and conceded none, with new signings Craig Goodwin (three) and Mirko Boland (two) catching the eye.
Winger Ben Halloran - another new arrival at Adelaide - also scored in Adelaide’s 2-0 semi-final win over Bentleigh earlier this month.
And Kurz is delighted with the new options at his disposal as the countdown to the October 30 final at Coopers Stadium continues.
“Now we have more options,” Kurz continued.
“Last year we had only (Ryan) Kitto and (Nikola) Mileusnic. Now we have a lot of depth in the wing positions.
“(Mirko) is a good, aggressive midfielder, good on the counter-press, and he has scored a lot of goals in the pre-season.
“I think he has to improve and learn the Australian football culture - it is different - but I am happy that he is here. I think we signed a good player.”
