Adelaide City set to take on A-League club Western Sydney Wanderers in FFA Cup

ADELAIDE City must adopt an attacking mindset if it is to become the first giant-killer of the inaugural FFA Cup, according to midfielder Nic Bucco.

ADELAIDE City must adopt an attacking mindset if it is to become the first giant-killer of the inaugural FFA Cup.

That is the view of midfielder Nic Bucco ahead of the Oakden club’s round-of-32 clash with A-League giant Western Sydney Wanderers at Marden tomorrow night.

The Black and Whites, who won the former NSL Cup three times, will be the first state league side to play a professional club in the opening round of the new national knockout competition.

But Bucco said City was determined to take the game to its more fancied opponents in a bid to create its own cup fairytale.

“We won’t be parking the bus — we’re not that type of team,” Bucco, 24, said.

“We’ve got players that are technically good enough to play A-League so we want to go out there and prove ourselves.

“We’ll get out there and play our normal attacking game and not be nervous.”

Bucco said the FFA Cup exploits of third-tier Victorian club South Springvale, which beat Northern NSW Premier League side South Cardiff a fortnight ago, had given City players belief they could pull off an upset.

“It’s 11 v 11 so if Western Sydney underestimate us we can take advantage of that.

“The underdog tag sits well with us as there’s no expectations and most people expect us to get pumped.”

City qualified for the FFA Cup after beating bitter rivals West Adelaide in SA’s Federation Cup final in May.

Bucco said his teammates were “shocked and excited” to draw the Tony Popovic-coached Wanderers, who have played in the past two A-League grand finals.

He said facing Australian internationals Ante Covic, Tomi Juric and Nikolai Topor-Stanley would be an ideal platform for local players to catch the eye of professional clubs.

Injured Socceroo Matt Spiranovic is likely to miss the clash for Western Sydney, while City will be without first choice goalkeeper Luke Ostbye who has ruptured his ACL.

“It’s a massive opportunity because you are playing against the best teams in the country,” said Bucco, who has scored 10 goals in 21 games this season.

“You are always in the shop window and hopefully playing Western Sydney gives us all an opportunity to show what we can do.”