Match day against Atlante

The Auckland City camp was fairly relaxed after the other night's win against Al Ahli. Once again in the lead-up to today's game, the local media had been writing the side off and were predicting a large victory margin for Atlante. However, the side didn't let any of the talk faze them, and worked hard on their game plan under the guidance of head coach Paul Posa and master strategist Ramon Tribulietx.

The side had a very relaxed day this morning, with no official training scheduled for the day. They trained on the Zayed Sports City pitch last night to acclimatise themselves with the stadium and the conditions and, believe it or not, it actually rained yesterday and this morning!

We got to the Zayed Sports City Stadium early in the evening for the match and there were plenty more empty seats than full ones by kickoff time, though the Mexican supporters generated plenty of noise to compensate.

The most notable player for Atlante is a chap by the name of Santiago Solari, who is a former Real Madrid and Inter Milan player - and still within the peak of his career. Though not really stretched today, he showed just how much of a class act he still is.

As was expected in the first half, the Mexicans dominated possession, but the 1-0 scoreline was credible - albeit that the goal Atlante scored was due to a missed clearance by Adam McGeorge. I've been working on the video analysis for this match with coach Simon Eaddy, and can say that the Aucklanders kept their shape well and were very well organised, with the opposition having to work hard to create chances.

The message to the lads at the halftime break was to keep it simple, and continue to press Atlante to play wide - restricting their space in the middle of the park. Ramon's lead-up analysis of the side showed that they liked to attack through the middle of the park, so the plan was to force them wide when given the opportunity.

In the second half, Auckland started brightly and created some genuine chances. Jason Hayne and Ian Hogg both impressed when pushing forward - with Hayne especially exploiting the space behind the defence where possible.

As the half wore on, though, the legs tired and the space opened up for Atlante to press forward and take advantage. Like most South/Central American teams, Atlante's players had an amazing ability to hold the ball and keep possession away from Auckland City.

In the end, the class of the Mexicans was too much, and they came out deserved 3-0 winners. Auckland can take heart from a professional and hard-working performance, which continued from their fine performance against Al Ahli.

Tomorrow will most likely be a rest day for the lads. I think there is only a recovery session planned for the morning, so there's an opportunity for some sightseeing in the afternoon. They'll need rest, after all of the running that they have had to do tonight.

Then they'll need to get their minds back into the zone for Wednesday night's match - the last match for the side in the Fifa Club World Cup.

I've uploaded some new video footage to the Auckland City website today - I'll get a wrap of the win up at some stage tomorrow (local time).

Newest First

Oldest First

Aldo   #1   08:23 pm Dec 13 2009

Greetings from Mexico.. Very impressed by Auckland. They had a couple of good opportunities to score. Atlante is not an easy opponent, They are generally a mid table team in the league but do have some great players (Hobbit Bermudez,Vilar,Solari,Pereyra,Chicharo) In Mexico their is a good mention of the Auckland Team.

Best of Luck at the World Cup.

Ad Feedback