Adelaide United talisman, Luka Jovanović, has full faith in his team ahead of Friday night’s blockbuster RAA NPL SA Grand Final against Modbury Jets.
In what may be a surprise to many, the 18-year-old will be playing in his first final at Club level, as he was poached early on for Football SA’s Under 13 NTC team, before quickly progressing into United’s youth
Jovanović shared his thoughts ahead of the Jets clash.
“I don’t really know what to feel or what to expect heading into my first Grand Final, but I will just play my game and get around the team and hopefully we can get the win,” he said.
“I feel like when we’re on our day we can be an unstoppable team and we’re a very hard team to play against with everyone available.”
“It definitely helps that we’ll be playing at home, and our main focus is to go all the way.”
United’s youth have had a stunning rise in this recent era, considering they entered the competition regularly battling away in the bottom half.
Jovanović says that this turnaround has not been a coincidence, given the acquisition of Youth Head Coach, Airton Andrioli, three seasons ago.
“It’s been trusting Airton and his work and when he first came in, we were struggling and battling relegation every year.
“Now that we’ve all gotten a bit older and more experienced, we’ve been playing under his belt at the same time and it’s all working.”
United will need to be weary of a never-say-die Jets outfit, who overturned a first-leg 2-3 defeat to MetroStars into a 3-0 return-leg trouncing to qualify.
It all kicks off under lights at ServiceFM Stadium on Friday, before the Reserves face Adelaide City in their Grand Final at 2:00pm Saturday.
Tickets for Friday are available here: bit.ly/3sGMQPD
Match details:
RAA NPL SA Seniors – Grand Final
Adelaide United vs Modbury Jets
Friday, 8 September 2023, Kick-off: 7:30pm
ServiceFM Stadium Pitch 1 (Grass)
RAA NPL SA Reserves – Grand Final
Adelaide United vs Adelaide City
Saturday, 9 September 2023, Kick-off: 2:00pm
ServiceFM Stadium Pitch 2 (Artificial)
