Auckland City FC - Thanks a Trillion

Oh don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against them and massive respect for what they do. It's nice to see other chants than "All Blacks" etc, but like with music, people are fickle and like to sing what they know. The Fever songs are all simple generic football/main stream songs with unique lyrics. Creating complex songs makes it exclusive.

So Chopah, would you call Tade a spade? Riera Rihera? I mean, if this guy is your "official" club commentator, how come he's so ill-informed about well known names in the opposition? That read out of the ACFC playing list was near racist in its ineptitude.

horse-shark.  yes he butchered some names but to accuse him of doing it on purpose or calling him a retard... pathetic.  

he is not a football fan - so dosn't know the players like some of us do.  I still can't get Ramon's last name correct so am I a racist?  are those who are calling him into question perfect, can they pro-nounce Maori place names perfectly?  stupid stupid stupid.

horse-shark.  yes he butchered some names but to accuse him of doing it on purpose or calling him a retard... pathetic.  

he is not a football fan - so dosn't know the players like some of us do.  I still can't get Ramon's last name correct so am I a rac2ist?  are those who are calling him into question perfect, can they pro-nounce Maori place names perfectly?  stupid stupid stupid.

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He is not a football fan?

correct he is a professional DJ who volunteers for Suburbs (just like I do, it's not my club) and brings all the gear - before last season he had never announced at a live football game - so he is learning.

Anyone else notice someone from Hamilton using an Air Horn in the first half when City were through on goal?

Good game of football today. Would love to see a replay of the two disallowed goals - the second in particular as I'm unsure how  that was offside

Oh wow. From where I was sitting he looked like he went to the line and cut back in. My mate was behind the goal and said the keeper smirked at the guys who were giving him shark and said "I thought that was a goal too"

I'll have to watch a replay :-)

EDIT: Just watched the replay. You're right about the first, Mica looked like he came back on side. Second he was a hair in front  (thought 3 had kept him on but pausing it I can see he's on the fringe of the 6 and Mica's in front of his man). 

Not sure about either goal to be honest. The camera angle didnt help at all. 

But I want to ask another question! Is this the worst Auckland team for a long long time? I have watched them play for the last six years and really feel this is the worst team by a long way. The system they play and the lack of good opposition keeps them at the top but the actual players are, in many areas, poor.

Take nothing away from Wellington yesterday, who outclassed Auckland in many areas of the park but in the last couple of seasons I agree with you.

Tade is the only "really good" player. The rest of the pitch is full of average internationals and egotistical shouty Kiwis.

Am i the only one that thinks Tade isn’t all that hot? Yeah he scores a lot but that’s not half of it. Riera, Berlanga, Zubikarai and Iwata are the real standouts for me. Completely agree with the egotistical aspect tbh, Hudson-Wihongi and Howieson look like prime suspects

Howieson covered a HUGE amount of ground on Sunday. Was constantly breaking up play - it was good to see. 

I agree. Team Wellington looked more likely to score for the majority of the game. The final 20, ACFC finally got into the swing of it, but for the majority of the game they looked disjointed. I think they needed to be more direct and stop playing flashy football.

Who are going to be the foreigners to play OFC Champions League?

i reckon some thing like...

(foreigners in caps)

ZUBIKARAI

white BERLANGA peverley rogers

tavano reira howieson

leafala TADE mccowatt

Bench: tracy hudson-wihongi raniga bright graham edge morgan

* assuming BILEN doesn't has NZ status yet

I also loved how completely fearless he was. Always charging for the ball, never scared to receive it in congested areas, always composed. Would be one of our top top players if he had a bit more end product. It’s almost like he played in the Premier League

Does Reira have a kiwi passport?

not sure, maybe someone in the know could shine some light on this?

according to old newspaper articles he was about to and according to transfermarkt.com he does

I gotta say that imo Auckland were the dominant side throughout. Was at the game and watched the replay, Wellington barely had a shout in the first half. Did really well in the second but faltered towards the end where Micah scored the two duds.

We’re pretty damn flashy though, especially with through balls and breaking down the final layer of defence. It’s okay to take the easy option guys...

I dont thing Darren White has a kiwi passport and is considered a 'foreigner'. Tavano is in the process I think not sure about Riera.

Pretty sure Darren White does have a NZ passport

Think Riera has his sorted, thats why there was those stories that he could play for NZ last year

When White played at the FIFA Club World Cup he was listed as English and still has English on Soccer Way website https://int.soccerway.com/players/darren-paul-whit...

Auckland City website, while listing him as NZer at the top says "Born in England but headed towards New Zealand citizenship"

http://www.aucklandcityfc.com/players/premiership/...

Thanks for the info guys

When White returned to New Zealand to play for Canterbury, he made noises about making the NZ Olympic side

Obviously, when making those noises, there was a good chance he had no idea about the eligibility rules and also since then a lot has changed in this regard with no one really certain whether they can represent NZ or not

I'd like to see more effort made by the clubs or NZF to divulge who is and who isn't; after all, it's in the rules now, so they have the info

So, given the above uncertainty, the lineup gets amended to something like...

ZUBIRAKAI

graham, BERLANGA, hudson-wihongi, rogers

peverley, edge, howieson

lealafa, TADE, mccowatt

ACFC schooling Venus in the OFC championship 

Yep, we’ve turned into Barcelona. A little annoyed with us missing opportunities by trying to be too fancy, but hey 4-0 at halftime isn’t the worst result possible

Got all the foreigners right. Swap in Morgan for Graham and Drake for Edge and you got today’s squad 

so on that basis, i assume riera ain't no kiwi?

and also, sheesh liam graham, recent all white, is way way down the pecking order at ACFC. speaks volumes for the ability of our local players

There are several kiwis in the starting squad today..

he’s just come on for Cole Peverley, who played like the Kiwi Makelele today, Almost invisible to a casual viewer yet he’s done so much for the team, hope he gets minutes in the national league. 7-0 now in the 74th minute

always rated peverley, the national league always looks easy for him. watched him own the phoenix in a pre season game a few years back, so i hope he goes well up there

Riera is close to getting citizenship, but hasn't got it yet. Talk from ACFC is he might have it in time to play in the knockout stages. Trying to confirm what the OFC regs are around that. Peverley seems an adequete enough stand-in, Hudson-Wihongi could do it too, so could Edge.

Liam Graham has only played 175 all season. Him and Henry Cameron have really struggled to come back to any decent level or form since suffering serious injuries. 

i should clarify, i meant the standard of our local players is pretty good, but the assumption is that even if a player plays in the 4th/5th tier in england, that they are better. perhaps they are not and liam graham now being behind several others at ACFC points to this being the case

thanks for the info andrew. hope he gets it in time

Tight game today. City seemed off - maybe fatigue from the 3 OCL games? Kept frittering possession and hitting poor long balls. Thought Mica should've come on for Parker-Price earlier, as Tade's not the fastest player abd suburbs were playing a high line. 

Howieson had a good game. The ref was pretty poor and started to lose control. 

Good day out all up