The return legs take place a week later on May 11 and 12.
The aggregate winner of each semi-final will progress to the final, set to be held on Arena 2 at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand, on May 19.
See below for a look at the action that’s in store across the two first leg semi-final matches.
Amicale [VAN] vs. Waitakere United [NZL]
The details:
3pm local time, Saturday 4 May
Port Vila Stadium
Port Vila, Vanuatu
The officials:
Referee: Averii JACQUES [TAH]
Assistant referee 1: Michael JOSEPH [VAN]
Assistant referee 2: Alick LUKAI [VAN]
4th official: Bruce GEORGE [VAN]
The lowdown:
A trip to Port Vila is a daunting prospect for any side as the stadium is always packed to the rafters with boisterous Amicale fans and the Reds have lost only once there in this campaign. The last New Zealand club to visit the football-mad nation of Vanuatu was Auckland City in the final round of the previous season’s group stages and, worringly for Waitakere, the eventual champions suffered a 1-0 loss in that match. Having recovered from a poor start to top Group B, Waitakere will not lack confidence however and have already proved they have no trouble winning on the road by securing three points in each of their away games, a run that included victories at defending champions Auckland and the highly-regarded Dragon. Those results prove Paul Marshall’s men are a match for anyone in the competition and Marshall will feel they have every chance of taking an advantage into the second leg. Waitakere’s chances of doing so have been boosted by the return from suspension of key attackers Roy Krishna and Allan Pearce while English import Chris Palmer has also found his goalscoring touch in recent weeks. They will have their work cut out for them against Amicale though as the Reds share the league’s best defensive record with Ba and the Fijians are the only side to have scored against them so far. But the hosts may also find it difficult to find the net as they are the lowest scorers among the semi-finalists and their most prolific marksman is Fenedy Masauvakalo, who has just two strikes to his name. Amicale will be without suspended defender Laitia Tuilau while Waitakere defender Brian Shelley is still under an injury cloud and has been replaced in the travelling party by Japanese midfielder Masaki Nomoto.
The quote:
“They’re maybe not as organised as the Tahitian side but I know they’ve got some technical talent, there’s no question about that. They’ve got some speed, particularly up front. The crowd will play its part and the pitch isn’t perfect so we will need to make sure we’re in the right frame of mind. We’re a team that creates a lot of chances and, as long as we take those chances, we should be okay because we have a pretty good defensive record.” – Waitakere United coach Paul Marshall
The squads:
Amicale: 1. Chikau MANSALE [GK], 2. Samuel KALOROS, 3. Chanel OBED, 4. George VUTI, 6. Samuela KAUTOGA, 7. Jean-Robert YALOU, 8. Johnny TIRAENG, 9. Jean NAPRAPOL, 10. Richard ANISUA, 11. Fenedy MASAUVAKALO, 13. Pape GUEYE, 15. Alphonse BONGNAIM, 16. Daniel NATOU, 17. Nelson Sale KILIFA, 18. Jack WETNEY, 19. Souleymane SARR, 20. Michael RUTHERFORD [GK], 21. Paul YOUNG, 22. Paul NGOM, 23. Roddy LENGA, 24. Kency TANGIS, 25. Joses NAWO, 26. Alick MAEMAE, 27. Moffat DEROMOA, 28. Aliou TRAORE, 29. Dominique FRED, 30. Francois SAKAMA, 32. Natou NANUA, 33. Joel NAKAPUE [GK]
Coach: Richard IWAI [VAN]
Waitakere United: 1. Danny ROBINSON [GK], 2. Aaron SCOTT, 3. Jack BEGUELY, 4. Tim MYERS, 6. Matt CUNNEEN, 7. Jeremy CHRISTIE, 8. Chad COOMBES, 9. Milos NIKOLIC, 10. Allan PEARCE, 11. Luiz DEL MONTE, 12. Roy KRISHNA, 13. Julyan COLLETT, 14. Daniel JONES, 15. Salesh KUMAR, 16. Tristan PRATTLEY, 17. Jake BUTLER, 18. Sam MATHEWS, 19. Daniel MORGAN, 20. Ryan DE VRIES, 21. Dylan STANSFIELD, 22. Richard GILLESPIE [GK], 23. Masaki NOMOTO, 24. Harshae RANIGA, 25. Bill ROBERTSON, 26. Billy COLTON, 27. Chris PALMER, 28. Alex CARR [GK], 29. Kyosuke KITANO, 30. Rory TURNER
Coach: Paul MARSHALL [NZL]
Auckland City [NZL] vs. Ba [FIJ]
The details:
3pm local time, Sunday 5 May
Kiwitea Street
Auckland, New Zealand
The officials:
Referee: Norbert HAUATA [TAH]
Assistant referee 1: Jan-Hendrik HINTZ [NZL]
Assistant referee 2: Mark RULE [NZL]
4th official: Nick WALDRON [NZL]
The lowdown:
The Men in Black from Ba are the only undefeated side in the competition and topped Group A in impressive fashion, notching 16 goals and conceding just four to earn a well-deserved berth in the semi-finals. That run of form means they will be full of confidence in meeting Auckland but they would do well to bear in mind that Group A was arguably the weaker of the two pools and they are yet to face a side possessing the quality of the defending champions. They are certainly not likely to commit the sin of taking Auckland lightly though as their most recent trips to New Zealand have yielded poor results and those visits will be fresh in the mind of coach Yogendra Dutt and his players, most of whom also took part in the previous campaign. Ba came to New Zealand twice last season – to meet Waitakere and for a ‘home’ match against Tefana moved from Fiji due to severe flooding – and returned with their tails between their legs on both occasions, conceding nine goals and failing to score. Those statistics will be of concern to Dutt but it appears that Ba are a tougher proposition this time and, in Nigerian striker Sanni Issa, they do have the services of the most potent striker in the competition. Auckland coach Ramon Tribulietx will have identified him as the major threat, especially as Malakai Tiwa, Ba’s next highest scorer, is suspended. The Fijian international is joined in being forced to sit this one out by Laisenia Raura but Auckland have no such absentees. Having won this tournament on the previous two occasions, the home side has more experience of high-pressure situations than Ba and Tribulietx will look to the likes of seasoned campaigners Ivan Vicelich, Daniel Koprivcic, Chris Bale and James Pritchett to use their cool heads to guide Auckland through to the final.
The quote:
“Malakai Tiwa and Laisenia Raura will be out for us but Avinesh Suwamy will be back and we have other capable players. We will be playing away from home but that should not make much difference as we have already played away matches in the group stages and won. We know Auckland are a good side but we have a game plan to meet them.” – Ba manager Iliyaz Khan
The squads:
Auckland City: 1. Jacob SPOONLEY [GK], 2. Simon ARMS, 3. Takuya IWATA, 4. Adam MCGEORGE, 5. Darren WHITE, 6. Matthew RIDENTON, 7. James PRITCHETT, 8. Chris BALE, 9. Manel EXPOSITO, 11. Daniel KOPRIVCIC, 12. Tamati WILLIAMS [GK], 13. Alex FENERIDIS, 14. Adam DICKINSON, 15. Ivan VICELICH, 16. Albert RIERA, 17. Pedro GARCIA, 18. Damian HIRST [GK], 19. Mario BILEN, 20. Emiliano TADE, 21. David BROWNE, 22. Andrew MILNE
Coach: Ramon TRIBULIETX [ESP]
Ba: 1. Ratu JONE [GK], 2. Avinesh SUWAMY, 3. Meli CODRO, 4. Jacob MORRISON, 5. Ronil KUMAR, 6. Jone VESIKULA, 7. Tuimasi MANUCA, 8. Aisea CODRO, 9. Abbu ZAHID, 10. Mavileko NAKAMA, 11. Josefata NEIBULI, 12. REMUERU, 13. Kini VILIAME, 14. Malakai LEVATIA, 15. Osea VAKATALESAU, 17. Malakai KANAHEWE, 19. Varun KUMAR, 20. Sanni ISSA, 21. Marika MADIGI, 22. Epeli CODRO [GK], 23. Fayah CAMARA, 24. Clarence CLARKE, 25. Jone SALAUNEUNE, 26. Scott GANNON, 27. Alvin SINGH
Coach: Yogendra DUTT [FIJ]

Share