Australia

Macarthur and Sydney United close friends and even closer enemies in Australia Cup final | Joey Lynch

30-Sep-2022 20:00:48 | Guardian

The first NPL team to make the decider must face an A-League club featuring a host of their former players and staff

It is the final that former Socceroo Mile Sterjovski hoped would happen, and it’s not an understatement to say the Australia Cup decider will be a milestone for Australian football. When Macarthur FC meet Sydney United at Commbank Stadium on Saturday night, not only will a trophy be on the line but it will, for the very first time, be within the grasp of a team from outside the A-Leagues. Never before has a National Premier Leagues outfit been so close to a piece of national silverware and a place in Asia’s continental competition.

When Football Australia launched the Australia Cup – previously known as the FFA Cup – in 2014, it was an acknowledgment by the game’s administrators that there still existed a valuable footballing resource outside the professional tier. The A-Leagues had previously positioned itself as ‘new football’, in a break from the ‘old soccer’ of the National Soccer League. Now, as Sydney United – a former NSL club of repute once called Sydney Croatia – prepare for their date with destiny, old soccer is very much a part of new football.