The first weekend of NPL Men\u2019s First Grade and Under-23s football has arrived in the capital, as Stryda Park plays host to four back-to-back matches on Saturday 29 August.<\/p>\n
Read each match preview below:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
NPL Men\u2019s Under-23s\u00a0<\/p>\n
Match 1: NPLM U23 Semi Final- Monaro Panthers vs Canberra Juventus 10:00am Stryda Park\u00a0<\/p>\n
Monaro Panthers will host Canberra Juventus in\u00a0the\u00a0battle of third and sixth for the first\u00a0NPL Men\u2019s U23s\u00a0Semi Final of the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Panthers finished six points off\u00a0top\u00a0spot, and despite having a league-best 62 goals, it was the 35\u00a0conceded at the other end that\u00a0ultimately fell\u00a0short of the\u00a0top\u00a0two.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Monaro did however put five past second-placed Belconnen United when the two met several weeks before the end of the season, although Cristian Meza\u2019s\u00a0outfit\u00a0ended their campaign with a 6-2 loss to seventh-placed Canberra Croatia, and a 2-2 draw against Canberra White Eagles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Opponents Juventus captured a finals spot on the\u00a0last matchday, finishing sixth, just one point clear of Croatia following a 3-2 away win against Tuggeranong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The third-lowest goalscorers in the league with 35, Luka\u00a0Brozinic\u2019s\u00a0side\u00a0were much more impressive at the other end, with a\u00a0superior\u00a0defensive record\u00a0than\u00a0most in the division.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the two\u00a0teams\u00a0met in 2026, Monaro came away with a 5-3 victory in Round 6, before Luka Brozinic\u2019s Juventus fought back to claim a Round 18 2-1 win at home, secured by an 81st-minute winner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Match 2: NPLM U23 Semi Final- Queanbeyan City vs Tuggeranong United 1:00pm Stryda Park\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both\u00a0Queanbeyan\u00a0and Tuggeranong meet in the second match of the\u00a0weekend and\u00a0represent two of three sides including Monaro who finished on 37 points in the NPL Men\u2019s U23s.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Queanbeyan\u00a0finished above Tuggeranong in fourth\u00a0thanks to a marginally higher\u00a0goal difference, in what\u00a0has been\u00a0a\u00a0much-improved\u00a02026, having finished bottom the\u00a0previous\u00a0season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A\u00a0contrasting defensive record stands\u00a0out\u00a0as the key difference from last campaign,\u00a0conceding the second-least in the league with 25.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite wins against Monaro and Belconnen in 2026,\u00a0Queanbeyan\u00a0generally struggled\u00a0against the\u00a0top\u00a0teams, and lost two of their two league encounters with Tuggeranong United.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Kambah-based\u00a0outfit\u00a0had an almost identical record to City, with most of their success against the\u00a0top\u00a0sides in the league coming against Juventus and\u00a0Queanbeyan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Round 2, and\u00a0Round 16 wins for Tuggeranong against\u00a0Queanbeyan\u00a0will undoubtedly fuel the confidence behind Van Nguyen\u2019s\u00a0squad\u00a0heading into the fixture.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
NPL Men\u2019s First Grade\u00a0<\/p>\n
Match 3: NPLM First Grade Semi Final- Tigers FC vs Canberra Juventus 4:00 pm\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having\u00a0missed out on\u00a0a top two\u00a0finish\u00a0on the final day,\u00a0Tigers FC\u00a0will have a point to prove in the first round of finals when they take on sixth-placed\u00a0Canberra Juventus, with the winner set to face Monaro Panthers\u00a0next Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite three losses from their first six matches in the league, Ali Efe\u2019s team\u00a0have had an incredible second half of the campaign and have lost just once in their last 14 matches.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When it comes to one-off games, there has not been a better side in recent memory.<\/p>\n
Tigers not only won out in the last finals campaign but also claimed the 2026 Charity Shield earlier this year and secured Australia Cup Round of 32 qualification.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the four defeats handed to them this campaign has come from\u00a0Juventus\u00a0however, who in their first season back in the top-flight for 20 years secured\u00a0finals qualification.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
A 3-2 victory against Tigers in the third round of the campaign will offer plenty of encouragement for the away side, in what was a dream start to the club\u2019s\u00a0NPL Men\u2019s\u00a0return, with three wins from their first four.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since that\u00a0result\u00a0however, Juventus has\u00a0only been able to beat Tuggeranong United from the top six, amongst positive results\u00a0against opponents\u00a0on the lower end of the table.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Match 4: NPLM First Grade Semi Final- Tuggeranong United vs Queanbeyan City 7:00 pm\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fourth plays fifth as Tuggeranong United takes on\u00a0Queanbeyan\u00a0City, with Canberra Croatia waiting in the wings next weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tuggeranong entered the final fortnight\u00a0in the NPL Men\u2019s title race still competing for first, however\u00a0late season positive results from the top three teams resulted in the club finishing in\u00a0fourth place.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite settling\u00a0in the same position last season Mitch Stevens\u2019 team almost doubled their points tally, in a year\u00a0that saw the club inflict\u00a0on Canberra Croatia one of two 2026 defeats,\u00a0excluding a forfeit, and see\u00a0off Tigers at\u00a0Kambah\u00a0in Round 6.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Heading into this match with two wins on the bounce, spirits will be high, particularly having already beaten\u00a0Queanbeyan\u00a0in Round 2.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
A more recent\u00a04-2 win for\u00a0City\u00a0however, will instill plenty of belief in the side based in\u00a0New South Wales, who\u00a0will\u00a0also\u00a0enter the contest with just one defeat in their last seven,\u00a0and with\u00a0plenty of high-pressure\u00a0knockout match experience\u00a0recently.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A run to the final of the Australia Cup Qualifying tournament in 2025, followed by\u00a0a Semi-Final finish in 2026\u00a0will mean Goran Josifovski\u2019s outfit\u00a0are used to the weight\u00a0of these games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Recent success against\u00a0Canberra Juventus,\u00a0Saturday\u2019s opponents, and a point against Tigers in the\u00a0final stretch of\u00a0Queanbeyan\u2019s\u00a0season will ensure the confidence\u00a0remains\u00a0high.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Watch every match LIVE during the Finals Series on the Capital Football YouTube channel.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first weekend of NPL Men\u2019s First Grade and Under-23s football has arrived in the capital, as Stryda…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-871452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}