Canberra Olympic star Luca Florez balancing music gigs and Capital Football games

"But if I get an opportunity to play at Wembley Stadium with my band," Florez grins, "I'm not going to turn that down either."

Dreaming big, sure, but Florez can't help it when he spends his Saturday afternoons playing in Capital Football's National Premier League and his nights playing in Canberra bars for an alternative indie band called Muesli.

On the pitch, 19-year-old Florez is one of Canberra Olympic's most dangerous weapons - one who will have Canberra Croatia on high alert when the two sides meet at Deakin Stadium on Saturday.

Off it, he's a song-writing guitarist studying a creative writing degree.

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But leading that double life can be challenging - especially when Florez is racing from soccer games to music gigs.

Just like he will on June 3, when he plays for Olympic in Canberra's Football Australia Cup qualifying final before hightailing it to The Shaking Hand for Muesli's next show.

"Sometimes when I'm cutting it so tight, I don't even have time to have a shower after my game and I feel a bit gross. I get the cans of deodorant ready and all that jazz," Florez laughs.

"That's the night of the FA Cup final. I'll be having the whole team cheering at the gig I hope. It will be their first time seeing me play.

"If I have any advice for people, just because you have a passion for one thing, it doesn't mean you have to stop the passion for another. You should keep pursuing both and see where they take you.

"In this coming year and next year, with both of these things I'm doing, they would have to take me interstate or overseas to become an actual career I could make money from.

"Once that happens, and I'm on the road as a travelling musician, I would have to give football up for a certain amount of time. It's the same with soccer, if I'm going to be a professional athlete, you've got to put your whole life into it.

"I would love to do both professionally, to be honest. My passion for them is pretty equal. I'm just going with the flow right now."

So what does Muesli sound like? Florez likens it to a mix of Ball Park Music, Vulfpeck, Rex Orange County and maybe even some Sticky Fingers.

Muesli played 43 shows last year, all while Florez was balancing his first season at Olympic after shifting from Belconnen United.

Florez reckons you can see that same flair he displays on stage when he plays soccer, where he is a more creative type as opposed to the "big monster who cleans people up". So where does the creativity come from?

"I've always written poems and stuff like that. When I was a kid, I liked writing little songs, little raps with my friends as a joke," Florez said.

"When I picked up a guitar and realised I could sing, I was like 'whoa, this is a valuable skill to have when you've got those other two skills'.

"It developed from there. I've always had a knack for being able to use words in ways that make people feel stuff in a certain way.

"Probably around three or four years ago, at the start of year 10, I picked up the ukulele and started playing that. From there I was able to pick up the guitar as well, and being able to sing made it more motivating to get good at the guitar. I knew if I was able to do both, I'd have a cool thing going on."

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