No illusions for Monaro Panthers' giant Australia Cup battle in Sydney

They are due to face Sydney United 58 FC, a club that has housed and developed some of Australia's best footballers at one point or another.

The club boasts alumni such as Tim Cahill, Craig Foster, Robbie Slater, Tony Popovic, Mile Jedinak and Socceroos' coach Graham Arnold to name a few.

Next month the Panthers will travel to Western Sydney to brave the stomping ground of their NSW rivals for a do-or-die Australia Cup fixture.

It's an opportunity for the Canberra outfit to move past the round of 32 and go one game away from equalling the ACT's best result in the competition - a semi-final appearance.

Even though it will not be an easy road to that hopeful journey, Panthers' coach Frank Cachia remained confident his side could rise to the occasion next month.

And with the date (August 3), time (7.30pm) and venue (Sydney United Sports Centre) set, it was all getting real.

"It's something that we're really looking forward to," Cachia said.

"This is why we prepared the way we did in pre-season, playing a low of NSW based teams, both in Canberra and away, for this sort of occasion. So in some way, it's sort of a plan coming together quite nicely.

"We're happy to be travelling away, although it would have been nice to have a Sydney team come here and play in minus three degrees, but you can't get everything.

"We know we're going into a location that has a big, heavy supporter base and a rich history.

"They've developed some of the best talent that's come out of this country, like Graham Arnold and Robbie Slater, so we're under no illusions about how difficult it's going to be to play them at home."

The Cup news for Monaro came ahead of a bye week in Capital Football's NPL competitions.

Following the competition break, the Panthers have three games to prepare for what will greet them in Sydney, with fixtures against Canberra Olympic FC, Tigers FC, and Belconnen United FC.

Cachia admitted his side were looking forward to the break, as it would act as a restart, but he knew how important those NPLM fixtures would be to get his team onto the winning side of the Cup scoresheet.

"It's really important," he said.

"Even though we've got the Cup game scheduled in, we really can't lose focus on the local competition as well.

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"So we are training as normal this week, with the exception of a few boys that need a bit of a break, but then we'll try to hit our straps again next week, and then looking forward to [Canberra] Olympic the following Saturday.

"I think it's twofold. We want to make sure that we keep our season on track, and we move up the table towards the back end of the season, but at the same time, we want to be representing the region properly as well.

"So if we can help it, we don't want to be sitting midtable representing the competition. We want to be as high up the table as we can be and make sure that we're putting our best foot forward."

Australia Cup: Round of 32

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