The small NSW town of Cooma, population of less than 8,000 and 114 kilometres south of Canberra, is a world away from the heights of South American football.
But as unlikely as is seems, leading minnows Tigers into the Cup’s round of 32 are three Argentinians in coach Gabriel Wilk and key strikers Nico Abot and Jose Defilippi.
With a home tie against NPL Victoria club Hume City on Wednesday July 31 at Canberra’s Deakin Stadium, Cooma are dreaming big.
And Wilk has made sure his side are primed for the season of their lives, putting them through their paces with an intensive pre-season trip to Argentina, where the Tigers played matches against the likes of powerhouse Club Atlético Independiente, where players like Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan began their careers.
“We had a pre-season trip to Argentina for 25 days,” Wilk told The World Game.
“We trained in the morning and after every day. We played against Independiente, a big club in Argentina, and San Jorge. The boys are ready for playing against big clubs.”
Wilk’s own playing career started in his homeland in the 1970s as a junior with Argentine giant Racing in Buenos Aires. The midfielder was talented enough to be selected in a train-on squad for the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship that included none other than one Diego Armando Maradona.
Argentina, spurred on by an 18-year-old Maradona, went on to famously win the tournament in Japan.
“I played in the youth national team in 1979 when we won the World Cup when Cesar Menotti was coach,” Wilk said.
“I trained there with 30 players, and then the squad was cut down to 22. Maradona was part of that team.”
Wilk has lived in Australia for the past 35 years after moving down under to join NSL side Inter Monaro in 1984.
A professional in his homeland, the midfielder went on to spells with Croatia Deakin, Uruguay Penrith, Canberra Juventus and Granville Chile before eventually hanging up his boots in 1993.
He then turned to coaching and for the past 15 years has been in charge of the Tigers – a 67-year-old club with a proud history that started with its founding by migrants drawn to Australia to work in the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme in the 1950s.
Under Wilk’s tenure Tigers were premiers of the NPL Capital Football 1 in 2014 and won championships in 2006 and 2012. Last year the club finished third in the league, but this season they are currently top after suffering just one loss in the first 10 rounds.
Cooma’s biggest achievement came last month when it dramatically edged local rivals Canberra FC 4-2 in a fog-blighted penalty shootout to advance past the FFA Cup’s seventh round. That win booked their spot in the round of 32, handed them the Federation Cup and ended a heart-breaking run of six Cup final losses.
“I feel very happy and very proud for the club,” Wilk said.
“We tried six times [in the Federation Cup final] with Cooma, and lost six times. So I’m very happy about it. We played very good for 90 minutes. Then we had the fog and it killed my players for the next 30 minutes, it was very cold.
“In the penalties we were very good.”
Wilk played for Argentine clubs Quilmes and Atletico Alvarado before his move to Australia. As a coach he has also worked with the Fijian national team and as an assistant coach with the Canberra Cosmos in the NSL.
“I was very young when I came to Australia, I was 23 years old,” he said.
“I’ve coached Cooma since 2004, a long time. There’s a lot of history at the club. I came here for the first time in 1993 and I won the State League and Cooma went up.
“After that a coach from Canberra Football club came here for a little bit, then after that I came back in 2004. Won two grand finals and now we’ve reached the FFA Cup round of 32 for the first time.”
Wilk’s football education in his homeland has played a big role in Tigers’ style and playing philosophy, as well as in their recruits. Two of Cooma’s key players are strikers and compatriots Abot and Defilippi.
Abot is the top scorer in the ACT League with 12 goals, while teammate Mark Shields has bagged seven. The trio make up a formidable attack force.
“I bring two Argentine players to the squad,” Wilk said.
“Nicholas, he played for us in 2015. Then he went back to Argentina, and now he’s back with us. I brought Jose Defilippi as well.”
Cooma has long had a multicultural flavor to it since the club’s founding in 1952. Today that global connection remains just as strong.
“We have a lot of different nationalities in the team – Macedonian, Croatian, Italian, Argentinian, Chileans, Iraqis – very mixed,” Wilk said.
“These are all the countries we have.”
Tigers will go into the round of 32 as somewhat underdogs against Victorian outfit Hume City. But Wilk is confident his underrated team can spring off an upset.
“You think we are underdogs?” he asked.
“We’ve played 16 games this year until now, we’ve lost one single game and we won the Federation Cup. But it is better to go in as underdogs.”
