Canberra FC v Tigers FC | Saturday, 4pm @ Deakin Stadium & LIVE on BarTV Sports

Canberra FC and Tigers FC will clash at Deakin on Saturday, with a spot in the Grand Final against Canberra Olympic up for grabs. Canberra went down all guns blazing last weekend in a shootout against Olympic, and will likely approach this game differently. The first clash between these two teams earlier this year saw a 7-2 win for the hosts as Paul Macor’s men turned on the scoring late, but they were beaten at Nijong when they faced Tigers away. Kofi Danning was unavailable last weekend and it remains to be seen if he will feature on Saturday, but would be a big boost if he is included in the matchday squad. The hosts need to come out of the blocks quicker than they did last Sunday when they were overrun by Olympic in the opening stages, something they are not used to happening. Their opponents are not short on firepower either and will come out with a point to prove after they made it through their semi-final last weekend and missed the four altogether last season.

Gaby Wilk’s side are no strangers to the finals overall though and he has plenty of NPL experience to count on at this stage of the season. Nicolas Villafane continued his sublime season with a brilliant double last weekend in the win over Tuggeranong and should prove to be a difference maker in this match. Canberra FC will look to keep a keen eye on him in midfield; the Argentine was the scorer of both Tigers’ goals in that drubbing earlier this season at Deakin and alongside Tigers other attacking threats is a danger to them. Tigers struggled at the back towards the end of the match last week with Tuggeranong’s poor finishing keeping them down by a goal until the very end and can ill-afford to give the same sort of room to a team of Canberra FC’s caliber. Both sides struggled with discipline last weekend and that is likely to play a role, and we are all set for a fiery clash of two powerful teams for a spot in the big dance.