Across the Australia Day weekend, Queanbeyan City FC (QCFC) hosted the prestigious Maso Cup, which brought teams from across the country to Queanbeyan.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Cup, which is a competition that features soccer clubs of Macedonian background, attracts teams of all skill levels, and Queanbeyan Division One coach Goran Josifovski said that it was a great opportunity for his team to learn about what it takes to reach the highest levels of the sport.
“We learnt a lot from the experience,” Josifovski said.
“We use it as a warm-up to our season really, as a pre-season competition. Some of the teams are not really in our reach and grasp in terms of the level of their professionalism, in terms of the competitions they play.
“We’ve just seen to match those ambitions, the step up that’s required. So the lesson for us is we have to take this seriously both on the field and off the field in terms of the structure of the club.”
There were ten teams in the first grade competition, including one from Queanbeyan, who managed a quarter final finish in what Josifovski regarded as a highly competitive field.
The club has already begun its preparations for the 2019 season, and Josifovski will be hoping to improve on their preliminary final finish from 2018.
But first, the players will have a week off to recover from the tournament, before pre-season training resumes on February 12.
Following the conclusion of the tournament, QCFC president Zoran Duckinoski thanked the volunteers and organisers for their tireless efforts.
“Everything went very, very well,” he said.
“I have to say thanks to the organisational team and the committee. We did very well [with the] preparations, we’ve covered all the sides as much as we can, and it was very busy.
“We did a great, great job I have to say, on behalf of everybody and lots of volunteers.”
While it is unlikely that the club will apply to host the tournament again in 2020, as Duckinoski said that no club has ever hosted it twice in a row, he confirmed that QCFC will look to host again in years to come.
“We’re just gonna help with our feedback, how we went and all that because it was our first time [hosting] in Queanbeyan,” Duckinoski said.
“After 2020, definitely we will definitely be putting our hands up to the Maso Cup committee [to host again].”
The results from the Maso Cup are as follows:
- Womens Final : Wolongong vs Bankstown 2:2 (FT) 1:3 (pen)
- Masters Final: Yagoona Lions FC - Bankstown 4:0
- U20 - Final: Altona Magic FC vs Rockdale City Suns FC 0:1
- Men's - GF: Altona Magic FC vs Rockdale City Suns FC 1:2
