Preview: Hume City v Melbourne Victory
Hume City v Melbourne Victory
Wednesday 24 August 2016
ABD Stadium, Broadmeadows (VIC)
Kick-off: 7:30pm local (7:30pm AEST)
Referee: Shaun Evans
Assistant Referee 1: Luke Brennan
Assistant Referee 2: Daniel Illievski
Fourth Official: Jonathan Barreiro
Tickets: Click here for ticketing details
Online Broadcast: Streamed online at www.foxsports.com.au/football/ffa-cup/ffacupondemand and Apple TV via FOX SPORTS Now
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tags #HCIvMVC #FFACup
Hume City squad: 1.Chris Oldfield (gk), 2.Daniel Chabaani, 3.Jeremy Walker, 5.Petar Franjic, 6.Ramazan Tavsancioglu, 7.Kofi Danning, 8.Theo Markelis, 9.Tom Cahill, 10.Joseph Franjic, 12.Daniel Clark, 13.Shane Rexhepi, 14.Kym Harris, 18.Karl Baricevic, 20.Jordan Franken (gk), 21.Kristian Trajceski, 22.Deniz Yildiz, 24.Sam Beninato, 26.Jordan Fahim, 28.Hernan Espindola, 39.Nick Hegarty
Melbourne Victory squad: 2.Jason Geria, 3.Scott Galloway, 4.Nicholas Ansell, 5.Daniel Georgievski, 6.Leigh Broxham, 8.Besart Berisha, 10.James Troisi, 11.Mitch Austin, 13.Oliver Bozanic, 14.Fahid Ben Khalfallah, 15.Alan Baro, 16.Rashid Mahazi, 17.James Donachie, 19.George Howard, 20.Lawrence Thomas (gk), 21.Carl Valeri, 22.Stefan Nigro, 23.Jai Ingham, 25.Sebastian Pasquali, 30.Lucas Spinella (gk)
Bluffer's guide
For the second year in a row, these two Victorian clubs go head-to-head in the Westfield FFA Cup.
It was Hyundai A-League giants Melbourne Victory who prevailed at the semi-final stage last year on their way to clinching their first FFA Cup trophy.
But the Victorian PS4 NPL club were far from disgraced and return to the national stage dreaming of becoming the next member federation club to pull off a Cup shock.
It would take a huge performance for Hume to be able to knock off Kevin Muscat’s defending champions, especially after they missed the finals in the PS4 NPL Victoria following a 2-0 defeat to Bulleen Lions on Sunday.
Hume City only just scraped through their Round of 32 tie against Marconi as well, with Kym Harris' late goal in extra-time allowing them to win in a shootout.
They will need to be better against Victory. That’s not to say Hume don’t have the quality to do it.
The burden of expectation on their shoulders against Marconi won’t be there anymore while in Nick Hegarty, Theo Markelis, Tom Cahill and Harris there is goals and talent through the line-up.
Victory won’t take them lightly.
Still early in their pre-season, Muscat’s squad saw off Newcastle Jets in the Round of 32 on the back of two huge games in July against Juventus and Atletico Madrid.
It will be a special game for Victory winger Jai Ingham, who got his shot with the A-League side due to his exploits with Hume in last year’s competition. Will he come back to haunt his old club?
Besart Berisha looms as the dangerman though for Hume. With nine goals the Albanian is the most prolific scorer in FFA Cup history, including one in the 3-1 disposal of the Jets.
Still, this will be a tough test for Victory.
Hume also has the chance to add some cash to their coffers with the NAB Golden Goals initiative, which will see the Westfield FFA Cup partner give any Member Federation club $2,500 for each goal they score against a Hyundai A-League opponent.
