The Phoenix will face Adelaide United at Eden Park – the first football match to be held at the venue since an Olympic qualifier against Israel in 1988 – on Saturday evening in a clash that will be bookended by the Auckland City-Hekari United and Waitakere United-Ba O-League fixtures. The weekend’s other O-League match sees last season’s runners-up Amicale host Koloale on Saturday in Port Vila.
There is plenty of interest in that game as both sides hail from football-mad countries but the visit of Fiji’s Ba to Waitakere on Sunday has been just as eagerly anticipated and is likely to be the highlight of the weekend. As there is a strong Fijian community in Auckland and the Waitakere squad features Fiji international Roy Krishna, a well-known figure in his homeland, a large crowd is expected and the club has installed extra seating for 500 people.
“Ba have fantastic support here and are the Manchester United of Fiji,” Waitakere coach Neil Emblen says. “With Roy in our team we hope the neutral Fijian supporters will get behind us, as we have seen in the past. He is a big personality over there and has a lot of support, although I’m sure some of them will be hoping he doesn’t play that well on Sunday. It will be a great occasion and an experience to remember for all the players and supporters.”
Krishna is already the favourite for the 2012 O-League Golden Boot after finding the net five times in Waitakere’s remarkable 10-0 victory over Tefana on the opening day.
“It felt great to get off to such a good start,” he says. “I’ve never scored five goals for Waitakere before so it was a great feeling but the credit has to go to my team mates.”
Ba’s campaign did not begin quite as impressively but the Men in Black still managed to post three points with a 2-1 home win over Mont-Dore and are confident they will not return empty-handed.
“Our preparation has been going well and we have a game plan to counter the opposition,” Ba president Rishikendra Kumar says. “It is going to be a cracker of a match and we will do our talking on the field.”
The Waitakere squad remains unchanged since that record-breaking Tefana win but Ba coach Yogendra Dutt has welcomed midfielder Ronil Kumar and Fijian international defender Malakai Kainihewe back into the fold.
The match is a replay of the 2007 O-League final, the second leg of which drew a crowd of nearly 10,000 to Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium. Waitakere won 1-0 to level the score 2-2 on aggregate and qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup on the away goals rule.
Waitakere officials are urging fans to turn up in plenty of time for the first O-League meeting of the sides since that dramatic final as car parking and viewing spots will be at a premium. That could also be the case a day earlier at Auckland City, in a game that has been moved forward to 2pm so supporters can take in the O-League action before making the short trip to Eden Park to cheer on the Phoenix from 5pm.
The match brings defending champions Auckland together with their 2010 predecessors and there is plenty of motivation for both sides to perform well. Hekari are looking to re-establish themselves as a force on the Pacific’s biggest stage – a quest that began promisingly with a 1-1 draw away to Amicale on the opening day – while City will hope for a confidence boost ahead of their appearance at the FIFA Club World Cup on December 8.
Ramon Tribulietx’s men have just this game and an ASB Premiership clash with YoungHeart Manawatu remaining before they head to Japan for the prestigious tournament and the players will all be keen to stake claims for a place in the run-on side against the J-League winners. One player who could be missing on Saturday is one-cap All Whites utility Chad Coombes, who picked up a knee injury during the 3-1 national league win over Waitakere on Sunday.
“It’s hard to say how long Chad will be missing – maybe ten days, we hope it is a lot shorter than that,” Tribulietx says.
Fellow former All White James Pritchett, who sat out City’s first-up 4-1 win over Koloale in Honiara due to injury, comes back into the squad and is likely to slot in for Coombes on the right if the latter loses his fitness battle. Daniel Joe and Trevor Ire drop out of the Hekari squad to make way for Fijian international trio Maciu Dunadamu, Pita Bolatoga and Taniela Waqa, whose return is a major boost to coach Jerry Allen.
The other fixture between Amicale and Koloale is technically a Vanuatu-Solomon Islands clash but could well be a near all-Solomon affair as the home side can field almost an entire starting line-up of Solomon Islanders to face their countrymen.
Amicale have 10 Solomon imports in their squad and at least half of these are sure to play a role against Koloale. Nelson Sale Kilifa, Joachim Waroi, Gibson Daudau, Alick Maemae and Jack Wetney all started Amicale’s opening match of this season’s O-League while yet another Solomon Islander, striker Joe Luwi, came on as a second-half substitute.
The majority of the 22 players that run out onto the PVL Stadium pitch on Saturday will therefore be Solomon Islanders but both teams will be looking to put aside national allegiances as they look to secure their first O-League win of the season. The Amicale camp is disappointed not to be on three points already after giving up what looked a certain victory against Hekari at the death.
Coach Eroi was frustrated at his side’s failure to secure the victory and would like to see an improvement on Saturday.
“I wasn’t happy with the performance because it was not what I expected,” he says. “It was a totally different game to what I wanted. We had quite a few chances but Hekari dominated the second half.”
In a significant blow to his side’s prospects, Eroi will be without the services of skilful striker Wetney as he returned to his native Solomon Islands following the Hekari match and has not trained regularly with Amicale over the past fortnight.
The other match day two game featuring Mont-Dore and Tefana was played on November 12 due to Tefana’s involvement in the French Cup this weekend and resulted in a 1-1 draw.

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