I try to like him because he is one of the few mainstream journos along with Gorman and Lynch who really try to find a new perspectives to write about but he doesn't exactly make it easy. 

He put a lot of Victorians offside in the early days with his commentary work and didn't exactly go out of his way to shake off a perception of Sydney bias. I don't think many here are ever going to warm to him. His period as FFA mouthpiece also did a lot of damage to his credibility.

LOLOLOL how funny. After the convo, thos mouthpiece days are now a distant memory. Someone must have pissed him off.

the 18th/19th is probably the logical assumption, although the FFA/FOX could decide to play the SF matches on the 25th and 26th as a double header, no doubt the details will be out pretty quick whichever way they go

How many sydney fc fans will travel down for the match?? Packing out a 5k stadium seems to make more financial sense than drawing perhaps 4-8k in a 25k stadium unless the Canberra Stadium rental is similar in price.

These factors would surely have been taken into consideration. Then again they did play Palm Beach out of Robina.

Regarding the final, I wonder if they'll actually do a random draw for who gets to host it this time. The last two finals it was clear that the FFA really didn't want Perth to host due to the time zone difference for TV viewers but this year all the semi-finalists are east coast teams.

If Canberra win it will be in Melbourne.

If MV win it will be in Melbourne.

If MC or Syd win it will be in Sydney. 

Syndey fans wont turn up. The FFA wants the most revenue possible. 

Quality of the pitch will also be a consideration and rightfully so.

If the Canberra Football community embrace this, as the Wollongong community did, then they could get a very decent crowd.

FFA would of been hoping for a Melbourne City v Canberra Olympic semi final with Cahill attracting a possibly bigger crowd than Sydney FC with a  potenial Melbourne derby final  rather than a semi. 

TBH you are right, you'd think the best result for the metrics would be an extra Big Blue semi right after the league opener derbies, then either a Melbourne Derby or an extra Timmy in their precious Sydney fixture as a final later on, rather than another Melbourne Derby awkwardly close to the first league one, 

Surely Victory will host this at AAMI Park.

If we can get 20,000 plus on a midweek fixture it would be a great result for the cup and look good for TV viewership

Irony

All this "Who's your team"  ad blitz going on at the same time Canberra being given the "Magic of the Cup" treatment

Their team is actually WSW

IMHO, during this ffa cup I haven't seen a vast difference in technical ability between the a-league and second tier sides. Mainly seems that the a-league boys have the edge on the others on all aspects of athleticism though. Given the high quality of the a league I think it speaks huge volumes on the talent of the state competitions

Yewww Viking Park is a go.

-PB

Yup AAMI Park and as a Victory home game.

-PB

Preseason for the HAL clubs using the FFA cup as warm up matches for the league proper.

Sauce?

Would be great if true, will certainly be a sellout with capacity only 7k

Edit: just saw it on the ffa cup page. 

I've seen a chasm of difference in technical ability between the HAL and NPL.

I think the top NPL sides  have been  very strong in physical body on body contests and have often been well organised defensively as a team unit.

Nevertheless, as teams they  have not had the technical ability to enjoy sustained periods of ball circulation. The HAL teams have generally dominated possession and territory, with technical ability being a key factor.

The best NPL team I've seen play possession football against HAL teams over a number of seasons of FFA Cup games has been Bentleigh Greens. With their current coach, John Anastasiadis, and current line up, augmented by professional resources, and five imports, I think they could go straight into the HAL and hold their own as one of the bottom teams in the HAL comp. 

3 years tops though...

Was there any FFA cup games played recently?

Yeah but dont worry. Only 3 more games then the comp is extint. 

No bulgarian teams featured. Not surprised you lack interest.

Lol yep, times almost up.

The magic of the cup must have mezmorized me so I must have missed it lol.

That's what happens when your club gets knocked out of the comp lel.

-PB

Yeeeah, walking to the gaaaame

Maybe of your joke of a club stopped getting dicked early you'd be interested Pauly. Your lucky you don't have to qualify because you'd get dicked by a 5th tier side from Mount Gravatt.

Shame your centre link doesn't pay for foxtel. 

I think Thursday is when he gets to use the internet.  Might be a reward I'm guessing.