Cardozo focused on Blacktown City clash
Manly United FC star Richard Cardozo has scored nine goals in 11 games since signing for the club, but as he prepares for yet another PlayStation 4® National Premier Leagues Finals Series, he feels he is far from his best.
That makes for ominous reading for Manly’s fellow finalists, starting with Blacktown City FC in Sunday’s Preliminary Semi Final.
"I think I’ve scored nine goals in 11 games but to be honest I still believe that I’ve been rusty this season and I’ve not hit my full potential," Cardozo said.
"So hopefully that comes in the coming weeks."
But Cardozo knows that winning the PS4 NPL NSW Men’s championship will never come down to a one-man effort.
Luckily, he thinks he is in a team with enough quality to get the job done, if they can consistently hit their peak.
"We have beaten Blacktown City in a Waratah Cup semi-final already this season, so this is not a game we do not think we can win," Cardozo said.
"We have beaten [Sydney] United [58 FC] this season.
"We have a talented bunch of players. A lot of the boys are young and hungry for success.
"It’s just a matter of us playing at our best. If we do that, I don’t think there are many teams that can say they are much better than us.”
However, there have been some tough lessons for Cardozo and Co. this season.
Manly lost the Waratah Cup final to Sydney United 58 FC 1-0, and bowed out of the Westfield FFA Cup in the national stages at the Round of 32 against divisional rivals and PS4 NPL NSW Men’s champions Bonnyrigg White Eagles FC.
But Cardozo hopes the lessons learned in those games serve his team well in the Finals.
"The only one of those games that disappointed me was in the Westfield FFA Cup against Bonnyrigg. We let ourselves down," Cardozo said.
"That’s the only one I can say I was disappointed in, especially myself, with the result and how it came about.
"But in the Waratah Cup final, alright we lost 1-0, but in the second half we really gave United a scare and we had a goal disallowed for no reason.
"We have got to learn from those things."
In that vein, Cardozo is taking inspirations from another of his NSW state league finals runs, when he helped Rockdale City Suns FC to an unlikely Grand Final appearance.
"It’s a similar situation to what I had with Rockdale a few years ago. We just scraped into finals and teams were not expecting us to do much," he said.
"We didn’t have the ‘finals experience’ others might have so no one expected anything from us and I am taking a lot of confidence and experience from that.
"That year we played very free and the worst thing you can do is tense up.
"This Manly team reminds me of that Rockdale side and I think we’ve got the quality in the playing squad to get it done and the coaching staff to implement the game plan we need to win.
"It’s an exciting time for the club. We’ve won the Club Championship, our under-20 side won the league, we finished third so it’s exciting.
"Hopefully the supporters get out in force and we can repay everyone that comes out with a win."
Preliminary Semi Final
Sunday 21 August 2016
Lily’s Football Centre
1st Grade
Blacktown City FC v Manly United FC 3:00pm
-By Matt Galea
