In the day’s opening match at ANZ Stadium in Suva, the local side earned their first win of the competition, a healthy 3-1 victory over Western United who unfortunately go home empty handed.
The match-up between Auckland City FC and Vanuatu’s Amicale was a hotly anticipated one with the two sides sharing a healthy rivalry over the past few seasons.
Most will remember Auckland’s bump in the road to the championship title last year, a 1-0 group stage loss forcing them to rely on other results, and they were careful not to make the same mistake this time around.
Helping Auckland City off to a resolute start was Portuguese striker Joao Moreira who got on the end of a well taken corner to poke home for the opener just three minutes into the match.
In a tough, physical match a few cautions are to be expected but the six yellow cards and two reds won’t have been what either side wanted, or needed, in this all-important clash.
The first two were handed out just inside the 15 minute mark with Nicola Princivalli and Osea Vakatalesau picking up cautions – both for challenges on Auckland City defender Takuya Iwata. The bookings seemed to enrage Amicale’s captain Rijat Shala who made his opinion known to all and sundry.
Despite some over the top challenges, the football at times was impressive. As always the intuitive play of the Auckland City players was at work, while for Amicale young futsal international Micah Lea’alafa was a breath of fresh air.
Unfortunately for both sides, an incident in which Shala’s initial challenge put Darren White into the hoardings only for the two to lock heads a short time later, resulted in the two teams being reduced to ten men with close to an hour remaining in the match.
The double sending off did seem to restore some order and Auckland City’s goalkeeper Tamati Williams showed off more of that form that should have him as the frontrunner for Golden Gloves as he denied the strike trio of Lea’alafah, Vaketalesau and Fenedy Masauvakalo repeatedly.
Amicale continued to push for an equaliser after the break and a couple of good chances went astray before a swift counter-attack and a very nice solo effort from Moreira had him firing home his second before hitting in for his hat-trick in the 58th minute and sealing the win for his side.
Auckland City FC coach Ramon Tribulietx says it was a “busy” match with plenty happening to keep the players, and officials occupied.
“They probably tried a bit hard on us, like a lot of teams do in New Zealand, and so I think we’re a little bit used to that. But the team held it ‘marbles’ pretty well and we knew what we had to do.
“We tried to play in a way that we thought would give us the opportunities and at the end of the day it happened so I’m pretty happy with the way the team reacted, especially against that kind of football.
“I think obviously we’re happy to get the win, to be fair they had a few chances that hit the crossbar and a few shots in the second half. They’re a very good team, with some nice players in there like the Europeans but you’ve also got [Dominque] Fred, [Micah] Lea’alafa, you’ve got [Fenedy] Masauvakalo and they’re all very good players on the ball.”
For Amicale’s Italian coach Marco Banchini not making the semi-finals is an unwelcome result, but he acknowledges that his side didn’t perform well enough to continue on the day.
“My team were playing good and checking all the situations but after three minutes, we were seven against four in the penalty area and we conceded after just three minutes.
“The emotional situation was very difficult for us. I would need to check the possession but in the first half it seemed we played and they waited. Then after the red cards it was another match.
“I tried to get the squad compact, we played a 4-4-1 and tried to score in the second half to be in with a chance to draw, but this result, it has finished our Champions League.”
Earlier in the day it was two teams playing for pride as Group B’s dual-debutants hoped to lift themselves off the bottom of the table and secure their first win in this competition.
Either side looked like they might open the scoring with the respective captains, OFC Champions League all-time top goalscorer Benji Totori for Western United and Pita Rabo for Suva, leading the charge.
Things started going downhill for Western United just 25 minutes in when they were forced to make their first substitute due to an injury Djibril Sibidi sustained.
Ten minutes later and an incident in the Western United penalty area had the referee pointing to the spot. Spanish defender Adrian Medina stepped up and slotted home, but was forced to retake following a teammates encroachment into the box. Once again he sent Western United keeper Giacomo Ratto the wrong way for Suva’s first.
A second goal was a short time coming, this time it was Abdulwali Aman taking advantage of some poor positioning from Western United to fire into an empty net and take his side into the break with a two goal lead.
Joses Nawo finished what Totori started in the 54th minute to pull the Solomon Islands champions into the match, but wasn’t enough as Suva captain Pita Rabo sealed the victory with a tap-in.
Securing three points in front of the home crowd was a good way for Suva coach Gurjit Singh’s side to close out the event, which he says has provided a steep learning curve for his club.
“It’s a good win because we got three points and overall it was a good tournament, and playing against the best teams meant my players got a lot of good exposure.
“Definitely it has been a good learning experience for us and I’m sure that if we come back next year it will be very different. Overall we played well from the first game and I’ve not been disappointed with the way we played, and finished off with a good win,” Singh concludes.
The 2015 Fiji Airways OFC Champions League has also proven a steep learning curve for Western United’s assistant coach Riccardo De Vivo.
“In the first half we were a little out of shape and conceded two goals from mistakes from our midfield and from our defence. But look, we’ve had seven or eight chances again in this game and we just didn’t capitalise,” he says.
“It’s been a learning curve because the club was only formed in 2010 so this is their first championship as well as their first Champions League so a lot of things to take back and learn from.
“We tried to change the style of football to be more attacking, more high tempo and in six weeks it’s sometimes a little difficult to do the impossible but we gave it a good shot, the boys gave 100 per cent and I cannot fault them.”
The 2015 Fiji Airways OFC Champions League heads into the semi-finals stage on Tuesday 21 April when competition debutants FC Gaitcha of New Caledonia take on defending champions Auckland City FC at 3.30pm. The second semi-final will see Ba FC of Fiji play the other first-time semi-finalists Team Wellington of New Zealand at 7pm.