Auckland City advance to Club World Cup
Reuters - Sunday 17 April 2011, 05:11
AUCKLAND - Nerves threatened to derail
Auckland City's quest for their third Oceania Club title before
a second half penalty set them up for a $500,000 payday at the
lucrative FIFA Club World Cup, their coach said on Sunday.
The amateur side from New Zealand's largest city, playing in
front of a boisterous crowd at their home ground in Kiwitea
Street, achieved a 4-0 win in the second leg of the Oceania
Football Confederation club final against Vanuatu's Amicale.
Alex Feneridis, Daniel Koprivcic, whose second half penalty
had settled the team down, Manel Exposito and Adam McGeorge all
scored to give Auckland a 6-1 aggregate victory after they
snatched a 2-1 win in the first leg in Port Vila on April 2.
"There were nervous moments in the first half when the
pressure really got to our players and we didn't put our stamp
on the match in the first half," Auckland City co-coach Aaron
McFarland told Reuters via telephone as his players celebrated
noisily in the background.
"To be fair to the players they played it safe and realised
it was just a matter of time before we could dominate."
Midfielder Feneridis' crisp right foot volley in the 27th
minute had broken the deadlock though it was not until left back
Ian Hogg - the former New Zealand under-20 captain - was
brought down in the box and Koprivcic blasted the ball high and
to the right past Chikau Mansale in the 63rd minute that
Auckland settled.
Amicale's composure and shape also deserted them after the
penalty as they chased the game.
"When we went to 2-0 it became pretty comfortable,"
McFarland added. "For anyone looking to chase the game it's
tough and you do lose shape and we managed to exploit that and
put the game away."
Former Barcelona player Exposito scored a lovely individual
goal in the 73rd minute when he broke free and lifted a shot
over Mansale to make it 3-0 before he turned provider for
McGeorge, who powered a header past the keeper with his first
touch of the ball in the 82nd minute.
McFarland said the celebrations of his side, which is mostly
made up of university students, were likely to "be off the cuff"
on Sunday and that they could be "afforded one morning off" on
Monday.
It is the third time Auckland will represent Oceania at the
Club World Cup, which is scheduled to be held in Japan in
December. They confounded expectations in 2009 when they
finished fifth, winning two of their three games.