With our Westfield FFA Cup fixture now locked in at Pepper Stadium, it’s time to look at the big five reasons to get Big Kev level excited for our match against Brisbane.
New Signings
With the transfer period open, a number of new faces have signed with the Red & Black with some more familiar to fans than others. The Westfield FFA Cup is the perfect opportunity to see them in a competitive match for the first time.
Spaniard Andreu was a product of the Barcelona youth system where he spent 12 years of his life in their academy. The central midfielder has been at Racing Santandar for the past two seasons prior to joining the Wanderers and will be an exciting addition to the Wanderers spine with hopes that he will make his debut for the club in the FFA Cup.
Mitch Nichols and Scott Jamieson both join the Wanderers with great experience in the inaugural Cup with both players making the 2015 final with Perth Glory. There is much to like about Nichols while Jamieson himself was selected in the PFA Team of the Year as the best left back in the Hyundai A-League.
Scott Neville and Jacob Pepper are also fresh faces to the Wanderers squad looking to make their mark in the clubs second Westfield FFA Cup stint.
Pepper Stadium
The Wanderers have a 100% winning record at Pepper Stadium in competitive matches (one out of one still counts) so long may that record continue!
Brisbane Roar
It will be a case of history repeating with the Wanderers not only kicking off the Hyundai A-League season with a match against Brisbane Roar but also starting our first round of the Westfield FFA Cup with the same opponent.
Brisbane Roar are a different looking side with John Aloisi at the helm and former Socceroo Craig Moore appointed as Football Operations. Their pre-season schedule has seen them defeat Spanish club Villarreal with their upcoming match against English giants Liverpool FC at Suncorp Stadium in the coming days.
Emerging Young Talent
With the Wanderers youth successfully working their way into the senior ranks, young Socceroos Jaushua Sotirio, Shayne D’Cunha, Liam Youlley and Jonathan Aspropotamitis all received new contracts for the upcoming season and will be all looking to earn a starting spot to make their mark in the Westfield FFA Cup.
A big part of the Wanderers mission has been to strive and create a club culture that develops and nurtures young talent and this has certainly been the case with these young players coming through the ranks.
A photo posted by Jaushua Sotirio ✔ (@josh_sotirio) on Jul 1, 2015 at 4:04am PDT
Playing again
It will be the Wanderers second go in the Westfield FFA Cup and it will be exciting to see how this journey differs from the last. There is hope and confidence that this journey will be longer than the last which saw the team knocked out by Adelaide City in the Round of 32.
Kick-off against Brisbane Roar in the Westfield FFA Cup Round of 32 is 7:30pm on Tuesday 11 August at Pepper Stadium, Penrith.
