Qualifying Final | Canberra Olympic v Belconnen United - 4pm Saturday - Deakin Stadium & LIVE on BarTV Sports

Canberra Olympic and Belconnen United will look for a direct path to the Grand Final on Saturday when they meet at Deakin Stadium. Olympic took first place on the table after not losing in the league since Round two, and have knocked off this weekend’s opponents on both occasions that they have faced them since.

Frank Cachia’s squad will come in off the back of a scrappy 6-1 win over the Rhinos in their final meeting last Saturday, and he will be looking for an improved performance this time out. Olympic’s performance was saved only by the final ten minutes, where they blitzed the Rhinos with four goals but their attacking threat was still on full display.

Josh Gulevski admitted on Friday morning that the side are excited by the shot at another treble but won’t be getting ahead of themselves.

“All the boys are excited to try and win the third trophy this year”, he said.

“We definitely want to win, and a lot of the boys are very experienced in finals and won’t be nervous, so we’ll be going in confident.

“They [Belconnen] have given us a test both times this year, they are still a quality side and anything can happen on the day,” Gulevski added.

 

A 4-3 victory to Olympic and a 2-1 win at McKellar Park saw Olympic do the double over their opponents this season, but United coach Dean Ugrinic has said consistently that he knows his team can keep up with the Premiers. Matt Grbesa echoed that sentiment at Friday’s press conference, but admitted that stopping star forward Stephen Domenici is the first port of call.

“We’ve just got to slow Stevie down,” Grbesa said.

“He’s so experienced in front of goal and will pounce on any half-chance, so if we can shut him down then I think we’ll be a bit of a chance.”

United have been no slouches in front of goal either, scoring the second-most goals in the league this season behind only Olympic, with Golden Boot runner-up Jason Ugrinic leading the way. Ugrinic will prove pivotal in a clash likely to be defined by forwards, but will need help from his supporting cast.

Grbesa said that there are no injury concerns for his side this weekend, a contrast to many times this season where the Blue Devils’ have found themselves undermanned. A win here is not beyond them, but they will need a barnstorming performance at a neutral venue, but a venue that Olympic are very familiar with of late.

 

Elimination Semi-Final | Gungahlin United v Canberra FC - Sunday 4pm - Woden Park

It’s a do-or-die clash on Sunday at Woden Park between Gungahlin United and Canberra FC, in a repeat of their matchup last weekend. United took the points there to complete the regular-season double over last year’s Grand Finalists, but centre-back Jack Green said his side is wary of the danger posed by their opponent’s as United head into their first finals series.

“It is the first finals series for the club, we are still a young club, but we’re all looking forward to it,” he said.

“We do have a young squad, and Canberra FC have a lot of depth, a lot of experience ad very good players.”

United held firm under the weight of Canberra FC’s attack in the 1-0 win last week, and it was Green’s header just after the half-hour mark that gave them the win and he admitted that while their defence has not always been the best this season, they back it to do the job once more.

“Our style of football; we want to play with the ball and attack as much as possible,” he said. “Our defence hasn’t been the best but it seems to be holding up against Deakin so hopefully we can do it again on the weekend.”

With a couple of players returning from injury, coach Marcial Munoz will have some big decisions to make in terms of selection. But with performances strong of late and another win last weekend, Green said that Munoz has changed little this week, and that the team is just looking forward to jumping on in.

“It has been business as usual, Marcial didn’t want to change too much leading into the game this weekend.,” he said.

“I think we’re just going to get out there and enjoy it, it is our first season in the finals so I think everyone is just anxious to get a taste of finals football.”

 

Canberra FC finished the season off slowly, with their most recent wins against finals-calibre opposition coming in their Round Seven and Round 16 wins over Tigers FC. The two losses to United sandwiched in their hurt them along the way, and the matchup has obviously not been a favourable one thus far.

The loss of Thomas James midway through the season was replaced by Niko Kalfas, however the former Tuggeranong striker has struggled at times and was stifled well by the United defence last Sunday. Centre-back Daniel Subasic said that while the losses were a touch unlucky, his side needed to finish their chances if they want to make an impact.

“The first two games we were bit unlucky, we hit the post a couple of times,” he said. “Particularly last week, their keeper was in really good form, we didn’t finish our chances and they finished theirs, but that’s football.”

While United are first-timers in the finals, Subasic’s team are far from it, coming off a grand final appearance the last two years and that may be the leg up they need over their opponents.

“We have a bit of an advantage,” he said.

“Most of the team has been in finals before and we’ve got plenty of experienced players.”

And rather than let the loss from last weekend play on their minds, Subasic said that the side are feeling no pressure as they head into a sudden-death match to fight for their season.

“The boys have put the loss on the weekend behind us,” he said.

“But the team is looking good, there’s a couple of changes we’ve worked on training. It’s not their [teammates] first time, I’m feeling no pressure and I don’t think they are.”