Wellington Olympic will step out against Onehunga Sports in the ISPS Handa Chatham Cup quarterfinals this Saturday in an attempt to progress to the final 4 of the illustrious cup competition.

An opportunity to take the club back to the semi-finals for the first time in 10 years is certainly creating a buzz of excitement within the squad and wider club. Their last endeavour not only taking them to the semi’s but all the way to having their name etched on the back of the cup.  However, regardless of the excitement, proud Wellington Olympic captain, Alex Palezevic, believes his team have their feet firmly on the ground, with the build-up this week focused purely on the immediate challenge ahead.

“We are definitely excited, it’s a huge occasion for us, it’s been nine, ten years since we were last here and we are really confident with the ability of our players and squad.”

“The game provides such a big opportunity for us all. It's been an absolute honour to get this far in the competition, moving on to the next stage is really something to strive for but it would be an even greater honour to lift the trophy at the end.”

“However, within the group we know the key is in keeping calm, not over hyping the experience.”

“We understand the importance of taking it day by day, week by week, focusing purely on the game coming up.”

After an extra time victory in round four against Capital Football neighbours, Miramar, standing in their way of moving on are a classy Onehunga Sports.  The 2017 Chatham Cup Champions comfortably walked into their quarterfinal fixture with a 2-0 victory over Auckland’s North Shore United and pose a strong defensive unit, having conceded only 2 goals in the in their campaign so far.

“Onehunga are definitely one of the favourites, so it’s quite good to come up against them in the quarterfinal, definitely excited about the opportunity.”

Palezevic stated that the preparation for the team had been good but the predominant focus was their own tactical and technical structure.

“We have looked at a few of their games online, so we know roughly what to expect. But we are trying not to focus too much on the opposition. The primary focus is on us and how we want to play.”

“Like any team we have had our injuries and even sickness, just with the nature of the way the leagues are all set up, jumping back in forth between leagues and cup’s, but as I said before it is a big occasion and we have been prepping for weeks so we know we will be prepared all over the park.”

Palezevic and his squad will make the trip early Saturday morning in preparation for the 1:30pm afternoon kick-off.

With everything to play for in the knockout game, Palezevic and Wellington Olympic are expecting a “physical and fast paced encounter with two teams that have good possession, tactical and technical games”.

 “It really means everything to the players and the club. We are definitely out there to make our club proud, our city proud and to cause an upset, and there really is nothing saying we can’t do so.”

For more information on the ISPS Handa Chatham Cup quarterfinals, please head to the New Zealand Football website.

Article added: Friday 02 August 2019