2016 OFC Champions League Grand Final

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Auckland Avenge Lone Lose To Secure Sixth Title

by Jeremy Ruane

Auckland City clinched a sixth consecutive OFC Champions League title - and a record eighth overall - on April 23, convincingly downing a disappointing Team Wellington 3-0 in a one-sided Grand Final at QBE Stadium to amply avenge their only loss of the 2015-16 season, inflicted by the same opponents at this venue six weeks ago.

The reigning champions were all over their fellow countrymen from the outset, and just 61 seconds after Tahitian referee Averii Jacques blew his whistle to commence proceedings, City were in front.

Micah Lea'alafa, later named Player of the Tournament, received the ball on the right and darted between two opponents before careering into the penalty area, where he sailed past two more Wellingtonians before letting fly. Scott Basalaj got his hands to the shot, but couldn't prevent the ball from flying into the far corner of the net.

It was a nightmarish start from Wellington's perspective, but their Saturday afternoon horror movie was only just beginning. Auckland cherish the ball like no other team in this country, which meant Wellington were swiftly feeding off scraps of possession, which they promptly gave straight back to City via their outdated long-ball tactics.

It's all well and good having truckloads of possession, of course. It's what you do with it that matters, and Auckland were having a field day attacking Wellington down either flank, with Lea'alafa well supported by Darren White down the right, and Ryan de Vries and Takuya Iwata combining well on the left.

This first became evident in the twelfth minute, when Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi and Clayton Lewis combined to release the overlapping figure of White down the right. His cross was headed inside by de Vries to the tournament's Golden Boot, Joao Moreira, who had the ball hooked off his toes at the vital moment by Bill Robertson, the lone Wellington outfielder who can be proud of his performance in this duel.

Seven minutes later, the Portuguese striker controlled the ball well before feeding the overlapping figure of Iwata. His driven cross found White arriving on cue on the opposite side of the penalty area, from where he lashed a volley wildly wide of the target.

Seconds later, Moreira caught Chris Bale in possession, and swiftly switched the ball to de Vries. He dummied the ball, aware that Mario Bilen was racing in behind him. But the midfielder, instead of shooting, opted to pass, thus the chance was lost.

It wasn't long before Wellington's frustrations began to show, with Mario Barcia the first to incur the wrath of referee Jacques in the 25th minute. White's resulting free-kick found Bilen darting in towards the near post, the ball parting his hair en route to the grateful gloves of Basalaj.

Two minutes later, White raced down the right to the by-line, from where his low cross to the near post resulted in Moreira attempting something a little too extravagant finish-wise, particularly given the confined area in which he found himself.

On the half-hour, Lea'alafa squandered a great chance to double Auckland's lead, with Robertson presenting the ball to him on a plate inside the 'D'. The Solomon Islander sent the ball sailing over the bar on this occasion.

Five minutes later, City contrived a delightful move - they were still enjoying around 80% of possession at this point in proceedings. Hudson-Wihongi, Bilen and Moreira wove together a tapestry of passes, ultimately presenting Lewis with the chance to let rip from twenty-five yards.

The midfielder's effort sizzled narrowly past Basalaj's right-hand post, but he was causing Wellington headaches galore, a result of the spaces he was finding as City's ball speed and ball movement repeatedly unhinged Matt Calcott's side, who were often chasing shadows in this one-sided affair.

It seemed the only way they could stop Auckland was by foul means rather than fair, but when Alex Feneridis employed this approach nine minutes before half-time, out came referee Jacques' yellow card for the second time in the match - Wellington would have to find another way to win, because overly physical challenges clearly weren't going to be tolerated by this official.

That presented the Wellingtonians with another problem, given the physical side of the game is a key element of their make-up, along with a reliance on set-plays. Their over-riding concern, however, was their general lack of possession, something which Auckland continued to enjoy with relish.

In the 42nd minute, they came desperately close to doubling their lead. Bilen picked out Moreira with a free-kick which the target-man played wide to Lea'alafa. The winger was giving Fergus Neil all sorts of problems with his fleet-footed endeavours, and after beating him on this occasion, picked out Moreira with a cross.

The striker let rip from ten yards with a shot which beat Basalaj all ends up, only to crash down off the underside of the crossbar to safety - a real let-off for Wellington, who could ill afford to concede a second goal before half-time.

They managed to restrict City to just the one-goal advantage, but only just. Seconds before the interval, another concerted Auckland attack culminated in a cross from Lea'alafa being cleared in desperate fashion by Robertson, who was called upon once again to thwart another City raid five minutes into the second spell, blocking Moreira's diving header after Lea'alafa and White had teamed up once more.

Hudson-Wihongi found himself on speaking terms with referee Jacques for all the wrong reasons soon afterwards, but in the 53rd minute, the midfielder had reverted to type, linking with White to create an opening for Lewis, whose one-two with Moreira presented the midfielder with a shooting chance, only for Robertson to once more block the way to goal.

Wellington earned their first corner of the match in

the 56th minute, as a result of which City nearly doubled their lead. Leonardo Villa's delivery picked out Robertson, whose header was grabbed by the hitherto unoccupied Diego Rivas.

The general accuracy of the 'keeper's distribution is one of the reasons Auckland coach Ramon Tribulietx recruited him during the season, and it was in evidence with bells on on this occasion, a pinpoint throw picking out de Vries, some five strides short of crossing the half-way line. He eventually checked inside before setting up Moreira, whose wayward twenty-five yarder was poor reward for Rivas' contribution.

On the hour, Anthony Hobbs became the third Wellington player to be booked for an over-zealous challenge, five minutes after which City squandered a great chance to double their lead when the charging figure of Lea'alafa opted to use Moreira when Lewis was in yards of space to his right with just Basalaj to beat.

Auckland nearly paid the price for their profligacy in the 66th minute, when Wellington fired their first shot of the match. Tom Jackson's long throw-in wasn't cleared, the ball finding its way to Luis Corrales, lurking beyond the far post. His volley flew across the face of goal - the closest Wellington would come to scoring at all, as things panned out.

For from Rivas' resulting goal-kick, the "Navy Blues" finally got the killer second goal they had been seeking. Lea'alafa set sail down the right once more, and after taking on the defence checked his run, and looked up to find Lewis gliding through the middle.

This time, the fleet-footed flyer used his team-mate, and from thirteen yards, Lewis drilled an unerring shot beyond the diving figure of Basalaj for a goal which all but settled the contest.

For Wellington, while their share of possession was improving - they had broached the 30% mark by the final whistle, were still nowhere near offering Auckland a genuine threat in this final, their plight best summed up by striker Ben Harris.

He was as ineffective in this match as he had been in the semi-final, which, due to injury, he'd watched from the stand. Harris can't do anything without the ball, and his team-mates simply weren't doing enough with what little of it they enjoyed to enable their target-man to be considered a threat in this match.

His frustrations were becoming increasingly evident, with referee Jacques frequently subjected to the striker's ire at perceived injustices, e.g. goal kicks being awarded to Auckland instead of corners to Wellington.

The harsh reality was, on this occasion, Wellington simply weren't good enough - they were fourth in a two-horse race! Indeed, they were being given a footballing lesson by a team which was well on its way to becoming the first in any of FIFA's six confederations to win its regional title for the sixth successive season.

Eighteen minutes from time, only the combined efforts of Hobbs and Robertson prevented Moreira from netting a third goal from close range after a corner hadn't been cleared.

Two minutes later, the soon-to-be-booked Bilen linked with Moreira and Lewis to send Lea'alafa rampaging down the right once more. Into the box he tore before sending a low cross zooming across the bows of the incoming figures of de Vries and Lewis.

Villa tried a speculative long-range effort eight minutes from time which Rivas grabbed confidently, after which the game was well and truly up for Wellington when Feneridis committed his second bookable offence of the match to leave his team with just ten players on the park against his former club.

Auckland celebrated the fact in the best manner possible - a third goal, six minutes from time. Yet again, Lea'alafa led the charge, sweeping down the right before firing over a deep cross which de Vries headed inside towards Moreira.

His mistimed bicycle kick proved to be the perfect pass to Lea'alafa, who lashed the ball with venom aplenty beyond Basalaj to leave City on the verge of history, much to the delight of the scorer, who dashed off the pitch towards a closed tunnel - just as well it was, as no-one would have caught up with him had the gates been open!

Before play resumed, referee Jacques had strong words with both Hudson-Wihongi and Corrales. The 'afters' which followed City's third goal made clear that there is no love lost between these rivals, a result of their frequent meetings in showpiece events such as last season's ill-tempered OFC Champions League Grand Final, last month's ASB Premiership Grand Final, and now this match.

Things could have got worse for Wellington before referee Jacques put them out of their misery. Only a vital tackle from Bale - he, too, was booked before the final whistle - prevented Lea'alafa from completing his hat-trick five minutes from time, while the two-goal marksman saw his deflected effort denied in stoppage time, before substitute Emiliano Tade was thwarted by Basalaj's sprawling save.

The final whistle was met with undisguised delight by the history-making Auckland City squad, whose comprehensive 3-0 triumph more than made up for their 4-2 loss to Team Wellington in the aforementioned ASB Premiership Grand Final.

That defeat was the only blemish on the "Navy Blues"' entire campaign, a reversal they avenged in clinical fashion to deservedly prove themselves the undisputed kings of Oceania football yet again.

Auckland: Rivas; White, Kim, Berlanga, Iwata; Lewis, Hudson-Wihongi (booked, 51), Bilen (booked, 82); Lea'alafa, Moreira (Tade, 86), de Vries

Wellington: Basalaj; Hobbs (booked, 60), Robertson, Bale (booked, 90), Neil; Feneridis (booked, 36, 83 - sent off), Barcia (booked, 25) (Gulley, 73), Villa; Corrales (Halpin, 88), Harris (Bevin, 88), Jackson

Referee: Averii Jacques (Tahiti)

Auckland City