This Tuesday evening Adelaide United will be hoping to erase the memories of losing a cup final 12 months ago when it hosts Sydney FC in the 2018 FFA Cup Final in a reprise of last season’s final won by the Sky Blues.
Both teams have won the trophy once with Adelaide winning the inaugural cup competition in 2014, but Sydney FC on the other hand will be hoping to become the first team to win back to back FFA Cups.
The teams met just one week ago, in the opening A-League match of the season and ended all square thanks to a spectacular goal by Reds captain Scott Galloway being cancelled by a second half Adam Le Fondre strike. If that match is anything to go by, expect another closely fought battle with neither team giving an inch. In that match, the Reds worked hard to shackle Sydney’s new Dutch star Siem De Jong, stifling his creative input in the attacking third.
In the recent FFA Cup semi-final win against crosstown rival Western Sydney Wanderers, De Jong, along with right winger Trent Buhagiar, created havoc against WSW. The Sky Blues will be without the injured Buhagiar for the cup final, but named the skilful Daniel De Silva in the squad for the lead up match against the Wanderers this weekend. The Reds will once more have to keep a tight rein on Adam Le Fondre, de Jong and Milos Ninkovic, who provided the assist for Sydney’s goal against the Reds last week.
In that game, the Reds were missing several players due to injury. The return of attackers George Blackwood, Baba Diawara and Nikola Mileusnic augurs well and is an indicator of the greater depth in the Reds’ squad this season. Led by the impressive Michael Jakobsen at the back and with their home ground advantage and extra day to recover from the Rd 2 league matches leading up to the final, the Reds could be expected to start slight favourites in Tuesday’s final.