By the time Olympic FC walk off the pitch following their friendly with Brisbane Roar this Sunday at Goodwin Park, the NPL Queensland Premiers will finally know their NPL Finals Series destiny.

The NPL Queensland Premiers are scheduled to meet the winner of an elimination final between Sydney United 58 (NPL NSW Premiers) and Canberra FC (Capital Football NPL Premiers), with that match kicking off at Sydney United Sports Centre thirty minutes prior to Olympic’s exhibition against Roar.

While the result of the elimination final is out of Olympic’s hands, Head Coach Jim Bellas says the run against Roar will hold them in good stead regardless of which club prevails in the New South Wales capital.

“We want to give Roar a competitive game and our blokes get an intense game and hopefully that will help us against Sydney or Canberra,” Bellas said.

“It’s going to be very difficult, but hopefully we can win that game against either Canberra or Sydney and then go on to Grand Final.”

Bellas said that while the scheduling wasn’t ideal, his side have done all they can to prepare for the Finals Series.

“It doesn’t help that we finished (the NPL Queensland season) a month before we are set to play Canberra or Sydney. We’ve been trying to get games, but once the year finishes and you know you have a month to go, it’s always hard.”

An understrength Olympic side lost 1-0 to Western Pride in a friendly at Goodwin Park two weeks ago, but Bellas said the Roar game would prove a better indication of where his team currently sits.

“We have to make sure our front three are still scoring and obviously tighten up at the back, because they’ve got very good strikers at both the clubs down there.”

He added, “If we don’t do that, then the Roar are going to give us a good smacking.”

Bellas said the game would also hopefully serve as an advertisement for Olympic’s tilt at the National Premier Leagues Finals Series the following weekend.

“All the Olympic supporters, well they’ll follow us anywhere, but we want to make sure that other people want to come out and watch us too.”

“Even the Roar supporters, hopefully we can play really well (on Sunday) and they then want to come out and watch us against a southern team the week after.”

“It’s all about playing really well, and any supporter from any club saying, ‘I wouldn’t mind going to see Olympic, they are a really good side’ - that’s how we get more and more supporters and grow the game.”

Bellas said he was looking forward to playing at Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre (QSAC) in the Finals Series, despite missing the familiarity of their Yeronga home ground.

“We would’ve liked to have been at Goodwin Park, but obviously QSAC is the home of Football Queensland,” Bellas said.

“Hopefully, we are going to try and get a week’s training on there if we can so we can acclimatise to the venue before the match.”

Olympic finished the NPL Queensland as Premiers, losing only three games on their way to the title.

The club backed up their regular season form with a penalty shoot-out win over cross-town rivals Brisbane City in the NPL Queensland Grand Final at the start of September.

Match Details:

NATIONAL PREMIER LEAGUES FINALS SERIES – SEMI FINAL
Olympic FC v Sydney United 58/Canberra FC
Sunday, 5^th October, 2013 – QSAC
Kick-off: 5:00pm

Olympic FC v Brisbane Roar
Sunday, 29^th September 2013 – Goodwin Park
Kick-Off: 3:30pm

Olympic FC (NPL Under 16 Boys) v Brisbane Roar (W-League)
Saturday, 29^th September 2013 – Goodwin Park
Kick-Off: 5:45pm

 

Words: Michael Flynn (Football Queensland)
Image: Alannah Pearson (Olympic FC)