Elimination Finals Preview – NPL Men’s NSW
Four of the NPL Men’s NSW’s biggest clubs will face off in the Elimination Finals on Wednesday night, with the two winners taking their first step on their hopeful journey to become Champions.
Rockdale Ilinden FC vs Blacktown City FC
7:00pm, Wednesday 3 September, Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre
Rockdale Ilinden and Blacktown City will face off in the first Elimination Final on Saturday night.
The home side have been in a curious run of form, making it an astonishing six draws in succession after another tie in their last regular season match.
They haven’t won in eight matches, and have scored just nine goals in that time while conceding 15.
Incidentally, their last victory came over their Wednesday night rivals, where a 3-1 win – courtesy of an Alec Urosevski brace and Oliver Puflett goal – secured a valuable three points.
Their recent form has been a stark contrast to earlier in the season, where they were considerable favourites for the Premiership, and they will be looking to return to winning ways at the right time.
With Urosevski leading their attack, who once again took out the Golden Boot plaudits, supported by the likes of Ali Auglah, Brendan Cholakian and Moudi Najjar, Rockdale promise to – as usual – be a considerable threat going forward.
Blacktown City, on the other hand, won their last game of the season over Wollongong Wolves, with a 51st-minute Jacob Maniti goal securing fifth place for the famous New South Wales club.
They ended the season with two wins, two draws and a loss, after a peculiar second-half of the campaign which, for the most part, left them stranded in the top-six, too far off the Premiership but with a considerable gap to the teams out of finals.
Interestingly, while both these sides gained 15 wins from their 30-game regular season, what separates Rockdale and Blacktown is draws, with the home side for this match finishing with 10 compared to Blacktown’s five.
And there are multiple reasons to point towards this being an exhilarating fixture at Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre, with Rockdale’s forward line coming up against an exhilarating Blacktown City forward line, featuring the likes of Reuben Awaritefe, Maksim Jez and Adam Berry.
Meanwhile, these two sides have conceded the first (Blacktown) and second-most (Rockdale) goals of any top-six sides, with both teams capable of putting on a spectacular, high-scoring match of football.
It’s Rockdale who will come into this fixture feeling more confident, having secured 3-0 and 3-1 wins over Blacktown in the regular season, but the away side will be looking to use this as fuel for vengeance in their biggest match of the season.
Marconi Stallions FC vs Sydney United 58 FC
7:30pm, Wednesday 3 September, Marconi Stadium
Marconi Stallions and Sydney United 58 will go head-to-head for the other spot in the NPL Men’s NSW Semi-Finals.
The home side for this match fell just short of the top two, finishing two points behind Italian rivals APIA Leichhardt – the team they’d take on this weekend if they are to emerge victorious on Wednesday night.
With three wins, one draw and one loss, Marconi will come into this match feeling confident of a positive result, having prevailed over Sydney United 58 in both of their regular-season meetings this campaign – beating them 2-1 away from home and 2-0 at Marconi Stadium.
With the exhilarating quartet of Franco Maya, Jordi Swibel, Damian Tsekenis, Marko Jesic and Dom Costanzo supplying the firepower for Marconi, the reigning Champions are more than capable of finding the back of the net, and will be a consistent threat throughout their finals campaign.
Meanwhile, they finished as the strongest defensive team in the league led by keeper James Hilton as well as Tass Mourdoukoutas and Tyren Burnie, conceding just 29 goals in their 30-match season, and their defensive quality could be crucial in this match, when facing a Sydney United 58 side who have scored the least goals of any team in the top-six.
However, United 58 will come into this match with plenty of confidence, being one of just two NPL Men’s NSW sides to have won a trophy this year, after winning the Waratah Cup in July with a 1-0 victory over Northern Tigers.
And they are on the best run of form of any team in the competition, having picked up four wins and a draw in their last five matches.
Their last match of the regular season made it four victories in succession, with goals to Marco Aambasic and Mason Wells seeing them head into Wednesday night in style.
Ante Juric’s troops know how to win big games also and they’ll be counting on the experience of skipper Adrian Vlastelica, Anthony Tomelic and attacking stalwart Patrick Antelmi for that extra boost.
Carlos De Oliveira has had a big year as has Bailey Rule who both are expected to show their worth on Wednesday.
With plenty of fire between these two sides, this promises to be another classic NPL Men’s NSW finals match, with both sides looking to do whatever it takes to move closer towards a storied Championship.
Winners of both matches will progress to the Preliminary Final this Sunday with the highest rank team to face APIA Leichhardt FC at Lambert Park and the lowest rank team to take on 2025 Premiers NWS Spirit FC at Christie Park.
