Ufuk Talay is buoyed by the chance to put the past defeat to Oakleigh Cannons behind them when they face off again in Tuesday night’s Australia Cup Round of 32 clash.
Two seasons prior at the quarter final stage, Oakleigh shocked the A-League’s most successful club with a 2-1 victory on their own patch and now the Sky Blues have a chance to put that result to bed with a strong performance on Tuesday night.
“It’s obviously a big game for them playing against an A-League side and it’s also a chance for players to put themselves in the shop window.
“They’ve done well previously against our side but we’ve got an opportunity to change history,” Talay said.
“We’ve got our way of doing things and we will have a plan to try to expose them and make sure we nullify them when they have the ball as well.”
Throughout the pre-season campaign Talay has given minutes to plenty of young players within the squad and he revealed that is is likely we could see more of them feature in the clash with Oakleigh.
“The strategy has changed within the club and we want to promote our home grown talents and develop our own.
“The boys have had some opportunity in some pre-season games and hopefully we can see them on Tuesday night,” Talay continued.
“Hopefully we can see Anas [Ouahim] make his debut as well for the side. He’s arrived and worked hard with the group and is tracking along well too.
“Unfortunately Joe [Lolley] had surgery at the end of the season as did Patty [Wood] so both of them won’t be available but they are progressing along well. Max [Burgess] felt his calf the other day too so he won’t be available probably for the next three weeks. Everyone else bar Caceres [suspension] is available for the game.”
Finally, the Australia Cup is a competition that the Sky Blues want to take seriously with AFC Asian Champions League 2 on the horizon as well before the start of the Isuzu UTE A-League campaign.
“There is an opportunity to win trophies so the Cup is important to us as that will lead us into the Champions League as well which will lead us into the season.
“However the main focus is to win this match against Oakleigh Cannons and then we will look to the future,” he concluded.
Match Details
Oakleigh Cannons v Sydney FC
Australia Cup Round of 32
Tuesday 30th July 2024
Home of the Matildas, VIC
Kick Off: 7:30pm AEST
Broadcast Live: 10Play
Tickets: Click Here
