REGARDLESS of who wins Tuesday's FFA Cup quarter-final between Melbourne Victory and Bentleigh Greens, there will be one member of the Anastasiadis family through to the last four.
In the Greens dugout will be manager John Anastasiadis, while on the Victory bench is the club's goalkeeping coach Dean Anastasiadis. The two brothers - both outstanding shot-stoppers in their playing days - are extremely close.
But for the past week the lines of communication have quietened somewhat as their respective clubs gear up for a hugely anticipated showdown at the Kingston Heath Soccer Complex.
Dean said the two have been opposed to each other a few times before when Victory youth teams have taken on the Greens in friendly matches over the years.
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“So it won't be totally new, but it is new at this level in terms of being with the A-League team and considering the prize that is on the line - this is no practice game,” Dean said.
“It's certainly going to be different in that aspect.
“We're brothers and we're close off the park, but football is football and it's business as usual for us. We both want to win.”
For John there is an added layer of romance attached to this Cup tie as he has been a Melbourne Victory member since the club was founded in 2005 and continues to go to almost every home game.
John - who guided Bentleigh to the semi-finals of the 2014 FFA Cup - said he knows better than to trade too many barbs with his brother before the match.
Tuesday's game pits the country's biggest club, Victory, against a Greens team widely considered to be the best outside of the A-League. For the Bentleigh coach, he said that adds an extra element of pressure on to his players despite their tag as rank outsider.
“But that's good pressure,” John Anastasiadis said.
“To have that compliment of being one of the better teams in the National Premier League is a credit to the boys who play.
“For us, we've built this culture at the club in the last four or five years where we demand a lot of success.
“We'll go in to the game feeling confident. Yes we are the underdog, but we're not going to lie down because we know who we are and what we can do.”
FFA CUP QUARTER FINAL BENTLEIGH v VICTORY Tuesday, 7.30pm Kingston Heath Soccer Complex Live on Fox Sports
