South Melbourne coach Sinisa Cohadzic has revealed his club had made it a priority to this year become the first non-A-League outfit to win the Australia Cup.<\/p>\n
Cohadzic\u2019s men beat Victorian rivals Preston 2-1 at Genis Steel Stadium on Tuesday night to book a semi-final berth against another NPL side, Brisbane team Lions FC, next month at Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur objective was this year, believe it or not, was to go and win the (Australia) Cup,\u201d Cohadzic told Paramount Plus. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to where we are now. It\u2019s a big opportunity for us, but let\u2019s not underestimate Lions, a good team \u2026 so it will be a good game at Lakeside in the semi-final.\u201d<\/p>\n
The winner of the South Melbourne-Lions battle will take on either Sydney FC or Melbourne Victory in the Cup final, with the A-League rivals to meet in the other semi-final, most likely at Jubilee Stadium in Sydney.<\/p>\n
The Australia Cup is one of four competitions South Melbourne is part of, the other three being NPL Victoria, the Australian Championship, and the OFC Pro League.<\/p>\n
Winger Arran Cocks, who scored the winning goal against Preston on Tuesday night, said South Melbourne\u2019s busy schedule had helped create a \u201cfamily\u201d at the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think if I\u2019ve ever been in a closer knit group of boys,\u201d Cocks said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve played 46 games already, travelled with each other and we\u2019re like family now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve always got each other\u2019s back. We\u2019re sometimes harsh on each other, but in a good way, and then we\u2019re always together, no matter what.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, we win (the Australia Cup). That\u2019s all we\u2019re aiming for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cocks and his team return to NPL Victoria duty on Saturday night against Caroline Springs George Cross at City Vista Recreation Reserve.<\/p>\n
South Melbourne has already secured a top-six berth, with a likely elimination final against Preston looming next month. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Melbourne coach Sinisa Cohadzic has revealed his club had made it a priority to this year become…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[127988,127978,42994,127989,127963,127995,42217,127972,127969,51671,127966,45924,127983,127991,127999,127974,127998,22,23,30846,19412,127981,38587,127990,127973,70603,70580,39649,127965,3052,127985,127971,47778,70574,43203,127982,127967,128000,70581,8000,42662,260,29469,1080,38214,36518,127977,70593,127992,123851,69459,3121,68252,127970,16821,22084,381,127987,127993,127986,70573,127968,39770,57516,127997,127979,127994,127984,127996,45162,127976,127975,78213,127964,110698,39096,36985,43015,10535,127980],"class_list":["post-81391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-s-back","tag-s-busy-schedule","tag-s-men","tag-46-games","tag-a-big-opportunity","tag-a-closer-knit-group","tag-a-family","tag-a-good-game","tag-a-good-team","tag-a-good-way","tag-a-likely-elimination-final","tag-a-priority","tag-a-semi-final-berth","tag-a-top-six-berth","tag-an-australia-cup-semi-final-berth","tag-another-npl-side","tag-arran-cocks","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-cup","tag-boys","tag-brisbane-team-lions-fc","tag-caroline-springs-george-cross","tag-city-vista-recreation-reserve-south-melbourne","tag-cocks","tag-cohadzic","tag-cup","tag-each-other","tag-either-sydney-fc-or-melbourne-victory","tag-family","tag-football-history","tag-four-competitions","tag-genis-steel-stadium","tag-his-club","tag-his-team","tag-historic-first","tag-jubilee-stadium","tag-lakeside","tag-lakeside-stadium","tag-lions","tag-lions-fc","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-vic","tag-newswire-sport","tag-next-month","tag-night","tag-non-a-league-club","tag-npl-victoria","tag-npl-victoria-duty","tag-our-objective","tag-paramount-plus","tag-part","tag-preston","tag-preston-2-1","tag-saturday","tag-sinisa-cohadzic","tag-south-melbourne","tag-south-melbourne-coach-sinisa-cohadzic","tag-sydney-the-australia-cup","tag-the-a-league-rivals","tag-the-australia-cup","tag-the-australian-championship","tag-the-club","tag-the-competition","tag-the-cup-final","tag-the-first-non-a-league-outfit","tag-the-ofc-pro-league-winger-arran-cocks","tag-the-other-semi-final","tag-the-other-three","tag-the-plan","tag-the-semi-final","tag-the-south-melbourne-lions-battle","tag-the-winner","tag-the-winning-goal","tag-their-coach","tag-this-year","tag-tuesday","tag-underdogs","tag-vic","tag-victorian-rivals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}