Qualified

As we approach the Australia Cup Final I wanted to take a moment to look back on how we reached this point. Over 700 teams entered the competition but just two remain after months of matches. For South this started in April when Hellas defeated Hampton East Brighton. However just a few weeks later South were knocked out of the competition by Bulleen Lions. Oh well, better luck next year…

…except that’s not really part of the story. You see this year South didn’t have to follow the regular qualification route. By virtue of winning the Australian Championship, South were given a free pass to the national rounds of the Australia Cup. So this is where our story begins, at Lakeside Stadium in the Round of 32 against Adelaide United.

Adelaide

I got to the game early and after less than 10 minutes I managed to hand out 100 copies of the fanzine. This is always a strong indication of a big crowd and that’s exactly what turned out to be the case. 3,080* people attended the game, only to be silenced in the first few minutes when Adelaide took the lead. Goodwin opened the scoring when he pounced on a defensive error, however, South ultimately took this it in their stride and from pretty much that point onwards they took control of the game. Juach would eventually level the score with a screamer from outside the box, and Uchida would give South an unassailable lead. It was a cupset for the ages – unless you count the other six or so cupsets that happened in this year’s Australia Cup.

Fremantle

South’s next opponent was Fremantle City, a team with a recent track record of securing unlikely results. Despite this I couldn’t help but feel complacent as I made my way to Lakeside. I handed out another set of fanzines and joined the 2,035* fans in the grandstand expecting an easy South win. Early goals from Cocks and Yoo seemed to confirm this, however the football gods decided to complicate things. A set of calamitous errors from Charlston allowed Freo to take the lead against the run of play but thankfully an equaliser from Juach would level the score and ultimately take the match to penalties. Fans rushed to the lake end to watch the spot kicks, but what they saw instead was a string of basic saves. Freo went onto butcher three penalties, handing South the victory and leaving Charlston as the surprising matchday hero!

Preston

Preston away is not for the feint-hearted. You face a hostile home crowd in an inaccessible industrial area and you are forced to watch the game from a muddy hill with obscured views. In exchange, you are afforded only a single off-field comfort, which is a 60 minute outdoor wait for a cevapi in a roll. Thankfully, I watched the game at home (there are limits to my insanity, especially on a work night)! That decision seemed to be a clever one after Preston took the lead. Through gritted teeth I watched the home fans go bananas as the PA system pumped Balkan karaoke. However Preston could not hold off the South tide for long as Painter-Andrews would charge into the box and score a equaliser in front of the travelling South fans. As the game neared full time, the play became more frantic and either team could have snatched the victory. However, it was South that would emerge victorious after Cocks unleashed a jaw dropping strike from outside the box to find the back of the net! My immediate celebrations woke up the neighbours, and my weeklong euphoria would go onto annoy my work colleagues. Unforgettable.

Lions

The semi-final brought us back to Lakeside to face the big dogs (cats?) from Brisbane. Lions FC were a formidable opponent that had defeated Melbourne City to get here and had completed a clean sweep of the major trophies in Queensland. South on the other hand were desperate to rebound from their recent NPL Finals loss to Oakleigh and were under pressure to secure a dream final against Melbourne Victory. The build-up precipitated into a monster crowd with 5,268* packing out Lakeside, generating an amazing atmosphere for almost the whole night… except of course at the start when Lions took the lead against the run of play! For the fourth time in the Cup, South were expected to come from behind. After electing not to field a proper striker in the first half the inclusion of Bul Juach at half time proved to be a game changer. The six-yard box specialist scored a hatrick of goals to tame the Lions who appeared to have run out of steam in the second half. In front of thousands of their fans South got the win secured passage to a dream Australia Cup final.

Final

But it wasn’t a dream! South’s qualification to the final was real and now comes at a point of significant momentum for the club. After last year’s relegation scare South has steadily rebuilt on field and off field. In combination these development have elevated the club in the national football conversation. The first major step was the Dockerty Cup win, this was followed the inauguration of the Australian Championship, and then Australian Championship title itself. In 2026 the momentum continued with a surprisingly successful Oceania Professional League debut, and reports of serious A-League entry discussions. For many fans the game against Victory is something over 20 years in the making, but as is the nature of football it’ll ultimately come down to just a couple of hours on the pitch. Just a few blokes, kicking a ball around.