Newcastle Olympic and Melbourne City go head-to-head in Australia Cup Round of 32 action at Newcastle No.2 Sportsground on Tuesday night.
HOW TO WATCH: Australia Cup Round of 32
CLUB IN FOCUS: Newcastle Olympic
CLUB IN FOCUS: Melbourne City
Olympic compete in the Final Rounds for a second time, with their only previous appearance in the Round of 32 coming against Macarthur FC last season where they were defeated 3-0.
Olympic, who are coached by former Socceroos striker, Joel Griffiths currently sit fifth on the NPL NNSW ladder with four games left to play of the 2022 regular season.
The side from Darling Street Oval come into Tuesday’s match in good form, having won five of their last six games including a 1-0 triumph over league-leaders, Charlestown Azzurri in their most recent outing.
Olympic qualified for the Round of 32 with wins over Cardiff City, Charlestown Azzurri, Lake Macquarie FC and Cooks Hill United.
The Australia Cup is the only domestic trophy still to elude City Head Coach Patrick Kisnorbo during his tenure at the club.
City’s cup run came to an end at the Quarter Final stage via a penalty shootout defeat at the hands of Wellington Phoenix last season.
Kisnorbo’s side who have added Sydney FC fullback Callum Talbot and Dutch midfielder Richard van der Venne so far in the transfer window returned for pre-season training three weeks ago.
Preparation for Tuesday’s Round of 32 clash stepped up a notch last week with a first pre-season fixture in which City defeated Dandenong Thunder 3-2 thanks to goals from Max Caputo, Jordan Bos and Florin Berenguer.
Opta Stats: #NOLvMCY
- This will be the first meeting between Newcastle Olympic FC and Melbourne City FC in the Australia Cup; Melbourne City FC have won all their previous 11 matches in the competition against member federation teams and have kept a clean sheet in each of their last two such fixtures.
- This will be Newcastle Olympic FC’s second appearance in the Australia Cup Round of 32; they were defeated by Macarthur FC 3-0 in their inaugural fixture in 2021.
- Melbourne City FC have won their last six Australia Cup matches in succession in the Round of 32; they have conceded just a single goal across their last four wins in that span.
- Newcastle Olympic FC won their four preliminary round matches of the 2022 Australia Cup by an aggregate score of 21-0.
- Nuno Reis (Melbourne City FC) made eight clearances in the 2021 Australia Cup, the most by any Melbourne City FC player.
Newcastle Olympic vs Melbourne City
Date: Tuesday, 2 August 2022
Time: 7:30pm AEST
Venue: No.2 Sportsground
Tickets: Buy here
