Team Wellington, Auckland through to quarterfinals
Seven-timed defending champions Auckland City and perennial bridesmaids Team Wellington have both advanced to the quarterfinals in the OFC Champions League, and will now eagerly await today’s draw.
The two New Zealand sides have met in the last three finals of the region’s premier club football competition, with City winning each time, but could yet find themselves drawn to play each other in the semifinal stage this time around.
City and Team Wellington finished top of group C and group D respectively, which means they will both play their quarterfinals at home, on the weekend of April 7.
City will face either Toti City Dwellers of Papua New Guinea, or Solomon Warriors or Marist from the Solomon Islands, while Team Wellington also have Lautoka of a Fiji as a possible opponent, but cannot play Marist, who finished second in their group.
The draw is set to be made this afternoon, and will determine who plays who in the two-legged semifinals as well. Those matches are scheduled for the weekends of April 21 and 28, with the two-legged final to follow on the weekends of May 12 and 19.
City eased through their group, hosted at Trusts Arena in Auckland, winning all three of their games, while scoring 13 goals and conceding none. They beat AS Venus of Tahiti 7-0, Madang from Papua New Guinea 5-0, and group runners-up Lautoka 1-0.
Team Wellington had it slightly harder, playing in tough conditions at Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara in the Solomon Islands.
They managed to snatch a 1-1 draw with Marist in their first game, where the hosts had the better chances, but easily accounted for Samoa’s Lupe o le Soaga, 7-1, and after going behind early, they rallied to beat AS Magenta of New Caledonia 5-1.
Nalkutan of Vanuatu and AS Dragon of Tahiti finished first in group A and B, and will host the other quarterfinals.
Auckland City haven’t conceded a goal in the Champions League for 863 minutes, and haven’t lost to a team from outside New Zealand since April 2014, when Amicale of Vanuatu beat them 1-0.
Team Wellington’s only losses in the competition have come to Auckland City, which makes the duo the clear favourites to win the competition, which comes with the lucrative prize of a place at the Fifa Club World Cup in December.
Before they resume their Champions League campaigns, both teams will be chasing success in the national league, where Team Wellington are the defending champions, but sit a point behind Auckland City at the top of the table, with two rounds to play before the semifinals.
The team that finishes first will secure a spot in the Champions League for next year, with the other spot either going to the grand final winner, or, if that is the same team, the team that finishes second after the regular season.
Canterbury United and Eastern Suburbs are the other two teams who have secured semifinal spots, and they remain in touching distance of the leading duo, setting up a fascinating finish.
Canterbury and Suburbs have never qualified for the Champions League before.
Team Wellington have beaten Auckland City in the last two national league finals, but have been unable to transfer that success to the Champions League, where they have lost three times and drawn once – in the 2015 final which City then won on penalties.
This season Team Wellington have had a 3-1 win and a 0-0 draw against City in the national league, and they will hope that record continues should they meet again at some stage, which they almost certainly will.