By Felicity Reid of RNZ
Auckland FC’s perfect start to the A-League season will be put to the test in Sydney on Sunday.
The newest club in the competition is unbeaten and yet to concede a goal after three games. They have won at home and in a derby match in Wellington, but are yet to cross the Tasman.
After a winning start to the season the team has been sidelined for two weeks, first by a bye and then by the FIFA international break.
They will return to the field against Macarthur FC in Unite Round – where all A-League men’s and women’s teams play in the same city.
Six Auckland FC players were on All Whites duty for the Oceania Football World Cup qualifiers while the remainder of the squad split the two-week break from competition between training and travelling.
Coach Steve Corica returned to Sydney to spend time with family, co-captain and the side’s leading goal-scorer Jake Brimmer went to Queenstown with his partner while Australian defender Dan Hall had family visit him and they explored the country.
The visa players, who arrived in Auckland just before the season kicked off, got the opportunity to get up to speed with how the team wants to play and to get some time on the park against local opposition in practice matches.
“It’s a long season and every opportunity we can get to give them a couple of days off is good for them mentally as well as physically to freshen up. They won’t lose any fitness over that kind of period and they also worked quite hard when they got back so I I think it’s good for everyone to have a bit of a freshen up,” Corica said.
Rested and refreshed Corica expected them to carry on where they left off.
The last time Auckland FC was in action was against the Wellington Phoenix – a game in which Brimmer scored twice to seal a 2-0 victory.
“Probably came at a good time, the break, because a lot of emotion goes into the derby game and sometimes it’s good to just to take it all in what we’ve done so far and start fresh again.
“Three games in we’ve done exceptionally well we’ve won all three we’ve kept three clean sheets so now it’s about building on that it doesn’t matter whether we have a couple of weeks off we want to keep moving forward.
“It’s been a perfect start really so I can’t complain I just want it to continue.”
Corica was chasing records – most consecutive wins by a new club, most clean sheets – as well as the possibility of end of season silverware.
Auckland’s first game in Australia would be followed by at least 11 more across the Tasman this season, depending on how far they progressed in the competition.
“We’re not making [the travel] a big deal it’s part and parcel of football we have to travel we’ll do the best we can to recover and prepare the boys sometimes we’ll go two days before sometimes the day before it will just depend on how far the travel is and what we think is best for the players.
“We want to win every game, home, away, Unite Round.”
Brimmer, who had played for Melbourne Victory and Perth Glory, was looking forward to playing away games despite the additional travel it required and the fewer fans they would have in the stands.
“We have a chance now to put a stamp in Australia as well so that’s ideally what we want to do,” he said.