Capital Football’s 2017 Westfield FFA Cup Round of 32 qualifiers followed a similar script to last year as the same club was left standing in the nation’s capital. Get the details on ACT’s entrant here.
Being able to back up a year after taking all before them was always going to be a big mission as the hunters suddenly became the hunted.
But for this team, last year’s magical Westfield FFA Cup journey has seemed to make them even hungrier for more. And so it is that Canberra Olympic, who reached the Semi Finals in 2016 and became the first Member Federation side outside of Victoria to make the last four, find themselves back in the Final Rounds again courtesy of another impressive display in the ACT Preliminary Rounds.
Canberra Olympic #COL
League: PS4 NPL Capital Football
Home Venue: O’Connor Enclosed 1 (Pedder Street, O’Connor)
Website: canberraolympic.com.au
Twitter: @COFC1956
Facebook: facebook.com/canberraolympicfc
Head Coach: Frank Cachia
How they qualified
Round 4
Canberra Olympic 6 (Josh Gulevski 20’/84’, Bernard Rene 45’, Fitsum Habtemariam 70’, Adrian Macor 76’)
Goulburn Strikers 0
Round 5
Canberra Olympic 3 (Robbie Cattanach 32’, Josh Gulevski 43’, Stephen Domenici 56’)
Woden Weston 0
Round 6
Canberra FC 1 (Domenic Giampaolo 72’)
Canberra Olympic 3 (Robbie Cattanach 76’/78’, Jordan Tsekenis 90’)
Round 7
Tuggeranong United 0
Canberra Olympic 2 (Robbie Cattanach 15’/81’)
Westfield FFA Cup history
2014 - Did not qualify for the Round of 32
2015 - Did not qualify for the Round of 32
2016 - Knocked out in Semi Finals by Sydney FC 3-0 at Viking Park, Wanniassa
Lowdown
Canberra Olympic were the talk of Australian football and envy of all semi professional clubs last year as they made it all the way to the Semi Finals, where their campaign eventually ended in spirited showing to Sydney FC at Viking Park.
Now the Canberra football community will again be rallying behind the blue and white as they attempt to replicate their remarkable run of 2016.
Goalkeeper Angelo Konstantinou, who is also a member of the Australia’s futsal squad, became a cult figure as Canberra Olympic’s designated penalty taker during last year’s Final Rounds.
Konstantinou’s experience, together with that of 32 year old striker Robbie Cattanach, is sure to put the team in good stead again heading into this campaign.
Cattanach came to the fore when it counted in this year’s Preliminary Rounds, scoring a brace in the win over fierce rivals Canberra FC and also in the Round of 32 decider against Tuggeranong United.
Despite not being able to hold their home matches at their regular home venue of O’Connor Enclosed due to lighting and broadcast requirements, their home away from home at Deakin Stadium proved to be a happy hunting ground and they will be hoping for more of the same in 2017.
