The last time an Oceania club champion took on the Wellington Phoenix it ended in a 7-0 thumping for Waitakere United but Auckland coach Ramon Tribulietx has focussed his thoughts on priorities other than the result.
“We aim to compete well, encourage our players to try to play our style and our systems against a professional side.
“We’re also out there to put in an entertaining performance. We’re there to play for the public and hopefully they will enjoy the game,” he said.
Both squads are at more or less full-strength with All Whites legend Ivan Vicelich in line for a second crack at the Phoenix in the space of a week following his outing for New Zealand ‘A’ in Rotorua last Sunday.
Tribulietx is eager to utilise the bulk of his squad in both matches this week but said Vicelich, Matt Ridenton and Tamati Williams may be rotated as required.
“We have a good number of players in our squad right now and for sure these three will not probably play most of those 180 minutes of this coming week.
“But they will make the field at some stage. We will check how they’re feeling physically on tuesday and then plan for the two games,” he said.
Fiji striker Roy Krishna is also included for a home non-competitive debut while fellow frontman Adam Dickinson returns from vacation in Brazil.
In a busy week of pre-season action, FIFA Club World Cup-bound Auckland City face Fiji’s Ba in a friendly match at Bill McKinlay Park in Mount Wellington on Wednesday night.
Intriguingly, a Mexican film crew will be in tow with one eye on potential All Whites players and the other on Auckland City FC as possible opponents after club side Monterrey also qualified for the Club World Cup in Morocco.
Ticket sales for both matches remain steady with Fijian media also taking a strong interest in both clashes with Krishna’s transfer capturing the imagination of his compatriots both in Fiji and New Zealand.
Live broadcast of Auckland City FC’s match with the Wellington Phoenix is available through Ethnic Media 360, Radio APNA 990 and Humm FM.
PRE-SEASON FRIENDLIES TEAM LISTS
WEDNESDAY 25 SEPTEMBER, 2013
BA (FIJ) v AUCKLAND CITY FC (NZL)
BILL McKINLAY PARK
MOUNT WELLINGTON
KICK-OFF: 7.30pm
AKL: 1- Tamati WILLIAMS (GK), 3- Takuya IWATA, 4- Mario BILEN, 5- Angel BERLANGA, 6- John IRVING, 7- James PRITCHETT, 8- Chris BALE, 9- Darren WHITE, 11- Daniel KOPRIVCIC, 12- Roy KRISHNA, 13- Alex FENERIDIS, 14- DAISHI, 15- Ivan VICELICH (c), 16- Albert RIERA, 17- Adam McGEORGE, 25- Dean LAUSEV, 20- Emiliano TADE, 21- Rory TURNER, 23- Sam BURFOOT, 24- Louie CAUNTER (GK).
STANDBY: Matt RIDENTON
COACH: Ramon TRIBULIETX
ASSISTANT COACH: Riki van STEEDEN
BA squad not available.
SATURDAY 28 SEPTEMBER, 2013
AUCKLAND CITY FC (NZL) v WELLINGTON PHOENIX (AUS)
KIWITEA STREET
SANDRINGHAM
KICK-OFF: 2pm
AKL: 1- Tamati WILLIAMS (GK); 3- Takuya IWATA, 4- Mario BILEN, 5- Angel BERLANGA, 6- John IRVING, 7- James PRITCHETT, 8- Chris BALE, 9- Darren WHITE, 11- Daniel KOPRIVCIC, 12- Roy KRISHNA, 13- Alex FENERIDIS, 14- Adam DICKINSON, 15- Ivan VICELICH (c), 16- Albert RIERA, 17- Adam McGEORGE, 18- Oliver SAIL (GK), 19- David BROWNE, 20- Emiliano TADE, 21- Rory TURNER, 22- Andrew MILNE, 23- Sam BURFOOT, 24- Blaz BUGARIN (GK) – one to be omitted.
COACH: Ramon TRIBULIETX
ASSISTANT COACH: Riki van STEEDEN
WPX: 1- Glen MOSS (GK), 2- Manny MUSCAT, 3- Reece CAIRA, 4- Luke ADAMS, 5- Michael BOXALL, 6- Joshua BRINDELL-SOUTH, 7- Leo BERTOS, 9- Kenny CUNNINGHAM, 10- Stein HUYSEGEMS, 11- Jeremy BROCKIE, 12- Tyler BOYD, 13- Tobias BERTSCH, 17- Vince LIA, 18- Ben SIGMUND, 19- Hamish WATSON, 20- Jacob SPOONLEY (GK), 21- Carlos HERNANDEZ, 22- Andrew DURANTE, 23- Justin GULLEY.
COACH: Ernie MERRICK
ASSISTANT COACH: Chris GREENACRE

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