Our Westfield FFA Cup journey continues tomorrow night when we take on Palm Beach in the Round of 16 a Cbus Super Stadium on the Gold Coast.
We’ve compiled all you need to know about the match below so make sure you give it a read before kick-off at 7:30pm.
Familiar Ground
New Wanderers signing Mitch Nichols actually played for Palm Beach the season he was picked-up by Brisbane Roar. The midfielder may not have donned the sky blue at Cbus Stadium but he’s a notable alumni for the Sharks and will be looking forward to making an impact against his former team.
On the other side of the ledger is Palm Beach’s Martin Vazquez who is actually a Wanderers Member! Living in Hinchinbrook when the Red & Black were formed, Vazquez is still a paid-up Member but will put his allegiances aside for tomorrow’s match.
Adelaide City still a memory
Desperate to avoid a repeat of last season’s elimination at the hands of an NPL club, Tony Popovic has stressed that the Wanderers will need to play to their best.
“We’ve already used the Adelaide City messaging amongst the squad and the players have taken that on board,” he said.
We will need to be at our best and if we are then we should go through.”
On Demand
Foxtel customers can watch the match online through FFA Cup On Demand right here while others can sign up to a Foxtel digital Subscription for only $2.50 a week for the first 12 weeks.
Injury update
With Brendon Santalab scoring with his first touch back from injury last week against Canberra, the striker is expected to make his competitive return against Palm Beach while most of the foreign players are also hoped to play a part in the match.
Spaniard Andreu won’t be one of them despite returning to training recently along with Golgol Mebrahtu will also be left out due to injury concern.
Romeo Castelen is also in doubt.
Here’s looking at you, kid
Palm Beach are quite the FFA Cup experts up in Queensland, winning the same amount of games in this competition than all of the five other Queensland sides combined.
The Sharks haven’t exactly been in great form in this cup run with three out of their four wins coming in penalty shoot-outs but a win is a win and they are not to be underestimated.
What happens next?
While the losers will be eliminated, the winners will find out their fate almost instantly with the Quarter Final draw taking place on Fox Sports 505 after regulation time of the match tomorrow.
