Auckland City v. Al Ahli, 09/12/09

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Auckland’s Amateurs Score Historic Club World Cup Win

by Jeremy Ruane

Auckland City braved the heat and the very best that United Arab Emirates champions Al Ahli could throw at them inside the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium on 9 December as they stormed to a stunning and historic 2-0 victory over their opponents to book their place in the quarter-finals of the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup Finals in Abu Dhabi.

A well-taken Adam Dickinson strike and a Chad Coombes thunderbolt paved the way for the first-ever win by a New Zealand club in the finals of this prestigious tournament, and set up a clash with Mexican champions Atlante FC for the right to take on European giants Barcelona in the competition’s semi-finals.

Auckland have also doubled their money with this awesome outcome. Winning the OFC Champions League and the right to represent Oceania at this event earned the club $US 500,000, but this hard-earned and well-deserved win means that City will bank a sizable proportion of the $US 1,000,000 which is the reward for finishing sixth at this event.

The balance will be spread between the coffers of NZ Football and the seven other clubs in the NZ Football Championship, who would have no objection to City winning on Sunday morning NZ time as well - it will be worth a further $US 1 million to the game in New Zealand if they do, thereby guaranteeing the Kiwi champions fourth place.

At the start of this match, however, few among football’s great and good even considered Paul Posa’s team to be bona fide contenders at this event. As the only amateur team in Abu Dhabi, they were perceived to be there simply to make up the numbers, their role being to provide the host nation’s champion club with a decent workout before bowing out gallantly and leaving the professional clubs to dispute the prize money.

Not this time.

Led superbly by the rock-solid central defensive pairing of captain Ivan Vicelich and club stalwart Greg Uhlmann, lion-hearted City contained Al Ahli splendidly throughout the ninety minutes, despite the host club enjoying the lion’s share of possession.

City looked on in the sixth minute as Ali Abbas fired over from twenty yards, the home team’s first shot in anger. But by the time they fired their next one, Auckland had twice gone close to opening the scoring.

In the seventeenth minute, Adam McGeorge played the ball wide to Jason Hayne, who rewarded the overlapping run of Ian Hogg down the left. The fullback wriggled his way inside the penalty area before stumbling, then recovering his poise and, thanks to a fortunate ricochet, possession.

Hogg - one of many in the all-white kit to shine throughout proceedings - squared the ball into the path of Dickinson, whose low drive cannoned to safety off the legs of Al Ahli’s goalkeeper, Yosif Abdalla.

Three minutes later, Coombes did well to retain possession on the right before rewarding the overlapping run of Matt Williams. His cross arced just beyond the heads of Dickinson and Daniel Koprivcic as the pair homed in on the near post.

Al Ahli produced their best move of the half in the 26th minute. Kahled Mohammed and Salem Khamis featured prominently as the Arabians raided down the right, with Hassan Ali unleashing a beauty on the volley from twenty yards which swerved narrowly past Jacob Spoonley’s left-hand post.

Back came Auckland, Hayne twice featuring in attacks which went close before the half-hour mark. He volleyed the first effort wide after Koprivcic had evaded two challenges on the right, before himself leading an attack down the same flank which culminated in Al Ahli’s best defender, Saad Surour, calmly clearing the danger posed by the cross.

Brazilian striker Bare was Al Ahli’s prime attacking threat, but he enjoyed little change out of Vicelich and Uhlmann. On the first occasion he did engineer some space in which to work, in the 31st minute, he lashed a shot over the crossbar after the combined efforts of Abbas and Mohammed had contrived to create the opening.

Yousif Jaber followed this up three minutes later with a thirty-five yard missile which flashed past Spoonley’s right-hand post, an effort to which City responded in similar fashion eight minutes before half-time. Koprivcic and Williams combined to engineer an opening for McGeorge, who lashed his dipping twenty-five yarder narrowly over the bar.

On the stroke of half-time, the local faithful were stunned into silence by an event which rendered the anticipated script worthless - a goal for Auckland! Vicelich won an aerial duel in midfield and headed the ball down to McGeorge, who fed Hayne on the right.

The winger scampered down the flank, skipping past two opponents en route, before whipping in a delicious cross to the far post, where Dickinson was arriving bang on cue. He steered home a shot into the roof of the net from just inside the six yard box to the undisguised delight of his team-mates, City’s coaching staff and the fans who followed New Zealand’s champions to the tournament of Confederations

Matt Williams challenges Ali Abbas

Chad Coombes' thunderbolt sails into the net ...

... much to the scorer's delight!

Adam Dickinson celebrates his goal with Jason Hayne

Auckland celebrate the opening goal of their historic 2-0 victory

champions.

Talk about red rag to a bull! Straight from the kick-off, Abbas hoisted the ball downfield, and there was Bare, lurking amongst City’s defenders with all the subtlety of a fox in a hen-house.

He wriggled his way through before unleashing a shot on the turn which Spoonley blocked with his legs. The rebound spun up and fell perfectly into the stride of Khamis, completely unmarked and with an open goal at his mercy … and he missed it, slicing his shot wildly over the gaping target.

The spurning of that glorious opportunity to level the scores marked the last act of an absorbing first half, and set the scene for a second spell in which City largely had their backs to the wall, defending their advantage for all they were worth.

But not before Ki Hyung Lee had rewarded another surging run from Hogg with a precise pass into the fullback’s stride. Al Ahli’s defence forced the youngster to check his run, but Dickinson was on hand to give the hosts another problem to contemplate - a lashed twenty yarder which fizzed inches past the post in the 47th minute.

Cue City’s brave resistance, Spoonley saving at the feet of half-time substitute Mohamed Rashid at the second attempt in the 51st minute after Bare had picked out Ali scooting down the left.

After Hayne undid all the good work of his splendid solo run past five opponents by shooting wide, the winger was released by Koprivcic down the right in the 63rd minute, and duly picked out Dickinson with his cross. The striker evaded a challenge before volleying over the bar.

Al Ahli were again enjoying more than their fair share of possession, but City’s defensive display was defiant, to say the least!

Uhlmann typified their determination, heading clear as Bare looked to head home a cross from Abbas, flinging himself in the path of a shot from substitute Mehrzad Madanchi, then heading over his own crossbar in a desperate rearguard action, as Bare climbed high, perfectly poised to power home Hosni Abd Rabo’s cross.

Spoonley, too, was kept active, though nowhere near as often as Al Ahli would have liked - witness Khamis’ attempt from ten yards which didn’t even threaten to hit the target! Twice the Kiwi ’keeper was forced to produce saves in the final half-hour, denying Madanchi on both occasions - the first requiring two attempts to handle, the second a full stretch fingertip denial to tip a thumping thirty yard drive to safety.

Otherwise, City defended bravely, stoutly, defiantly. Vicelich was authoritative, calmness personified, leading by example, looking every inch a World Cup Finals defender six months out from that great event in New Zealand’s football history.

In the 67th minute of this match, there was another. In the middle of this determined display of defensive defiance came a goal for Auckland. And what a goal!!

Coombes threw the ball in to Hayne on the right, and the winger - a last-minute addition to the starting line-up after fullback James Pritchett pulled up lame - ran once more at pace down the flank before firing in a cross.

Al Ahli cleared it, seemingly away from danger. Coombes strode onto the sphere, some thirty yards out from goal, swiftly assessed his options, then sent it thundering back from whence it came with venom aplenty. Height, too, and power. Ferocious power.

Few ‘keepers would have got near it, never mind save it. The flailing figure of Abdalla was among them. The roof of the net bulged. The stadium fell silent, save for the unbridled joy of an amateur football team and their fans as they stunned their professional rivals for a second time.

2-0, and it could so easily have been three at the death. Uhlmann, with his final act before succumbing to cramp, thrust out a leg to intercept a pass and cleared the ball to Williams. He released substitute Keryn Jordan, who surged at the spreadeagled Al Ahli defence as they creaked under another City counter-attack.

They somehow survived this one, Jordan spurning the sort of chance he usually converts with his eyes closed when shooting straight at Abdalla from twenty yards. It mattered not, however, for the damage was done.

Auckland City, the champions of New Zealand and Oceania, had conquered the pride of the host nation, their 2-0 triumph a massive accomplishment, considering they are the lone amateur team taking part in the FIFA Club World Cup Finals.

Atlante FC, beware!

Al Ahli: Abdalla; Surour, Yaqoot, Jaber; Khamis (booked, 46), Mohammed (Ahmed, 84), Abbas, Hussain (booked, 14) (Rashid, 46), Ali (Madanchi, 53); Bare, Abd Rabo

Auckland: Spoonley; Coombes (booked, 42), Vicelich, Uhlmann (Campbell, 90), Hogg; Williams, Lee, McGeorge (booked, 33); Hayne (Feneridis, 85), Koprivcic (Jordan, 71), Dickinson

Referee: Carlos Simon (Brazil)

Auckland City