AUCKLAND CITY 3 MARIST FC 1
Auckland City became the first semifinalist at the Oceania Club Championship in Albany after outlasting Marist FC on soggy North Harbour Stadium on Saturday.
Goals from All Whites striker Paul Urlovic and Grant Young gave the repeat New Zealand Football Championship winners a 2-0 halftime lead over the Solomon Islands champions.
Marist gave themselves a sniff when striker Sebastian Misiga turned All Whites defender James Pritchett inside out before neatly slotting past goalkeeper Ross Nicholson to make it 2-1 n the 68th minute.
But Auckland made the points and their semifinal qualification safe when second half substitute Graham Little converted from the penalty spot six minutes from time for his third goal of the FIFA Club World Cup qualifying tournament.
Auckland looked surprised to be awarded the penalty by Tahitian referee Jacques Averii who booked Joesph Lani for tugging at the shirt of City defender Riki Van Steeden at a corner.
Constructive football was almost impossible on the water-logged pitch which continued to take a dousing throughout the match. This became evident after just 37 seconds when Urlovic watched a goal-bound shot pull up in the slush.
Auckland again created plenty of chances but uncharacteristically failed to convert most of them as they had in their 7-0 win over Papua New Guinea’s Sobou FC on Wednesday night.
Paul Seaman, Grant Young (twice), Urlovic and Liam Mulrooney all missed good chances in the second half.
“I’m very pleased to get three points and obviously to get through the semifinals…now it’s down to the wire,” Auckland coach Allan Jones said afterwards
“We were playing to the conditions, not just the team and it was very tough. You couldn’t criticise any player for anything technical because you could only really go forward and hook the ball into space…it must have looked like a comedy of errors up in the stands.”
Jones used the conditions to explain away Auckland’s poor finishing but was not so forgiving when questioned about Marist’s goal.
He said Auckland’s plus nine goal differential (the same as AS Pirae who play their second Group A match on Sunday) was not a “concern”.
“The thing that upset me was the goal…I hate getting goals against me.”
There were few standout performances given the conditions although Auckland captain Neil Sykes was in the thick of the midfield action in the first half while Chad Coombes produced some nice crosses from the right after halftime.
Auckland will look to finish top of group A when they play AS Pirae on Tuesday night (7.30pm).
Tahiti’s AS Pirae can seal the second semifinal spot in Group A when they play Papua New Guinea’s Sobou FC on Domain 3 at North Harbour Stadium on Sunday (3.15pm).
Sunday’s early match pits Vanuatu’s Tafea FC against Fiji’s Eagles United at 1pm, also on Domain 3.