Team Wellington coach still ‘floating’
Who would be a football coach?
Both Team Wellington’s Jose Figueira and Waitakere United’s Chris Milicich must have been asking themselves that at various points on Sunday afternoon watching their respective sides give their all in a game which will go down in New Zealand footballing folklore as one of the best ever.
To recap, the Stirling Sports Premiership semifinal at David Farrington Park ended 4-4 at fulltime, 6-6 after extra time before Team Wellington won the penalty shootout 3-2.
Both sides deserved to win it. Waitakere led 4-3 with three minutes to go in normal time before Tom Jackson equalised for Wellington. Wellington’s Joel Stevens scored a screamer with two minutes to go in extra time to put his side up 6-5, only for Waitakere’s Pascal Reinhardt to again equalise.
One day on, Figueira was still feeling the effects of an emotionally draining watch from the sidelines.
‘‘I’m still kind of feeling that floating sensation today,’’ he said on Monday evening.
‘‘I was rubbing my eyes last night thinking was that actually us involved in that game.
‘‘To be part of a game like that, a great advertisement for the league and for me two teams and two groups of players who left absolutely everything on the pitch, it was just amazing to be part of.’’
The result was symbolic of how Team Wellington have approached their football this season where they’ve looked to play quality, attacking football.
Playing three at the back has meant they’ve shipped a few goals during that time, but it’s also made them very potent going forward, scoring 57 goals in 19 league games when you include the semifinal.
While there would be areas to improve ahead of next weekend’s final against Auckland City, namely defence, Figueira said the main thing he took from the game was a sense of pride.
‘‘Reflecting back and watching the game, I’m very proud of the players the way they kept believing and kept fighting, and, more importantly, believing in how we want to play.
‘‘In the tough moments they are the true test of character and what we’re about and coming through a game like yesterday puts us in good stead for a big few weeks coming up.’’
It was understandably the most dramatic game he had been part of, but he rated a 2014 Chatham Cup match when he was coaching Central United in Auckland as up there too.
‘‘We were away to Birkenhead, we were losing 3-0 and a man down, [Team Wellington striker] Nicolas Zambrano was involved in that game as well, as he was yesterday, and we came through 4-3, but I think yesterday will take some beating.’’
Meanwhile, the premiership will have another name change next year as Japanese billionaire Haruhisa Handa expands his involvement with New Zealand Football through his International Sports Promotion Society Handa organisation.
The competition will be known as the ISPS Handa Premiership for the next three years, having been known as the Stirling Sports Premiership this season and the ASB Premiership for the five seasons before that. It follows on from the Chatham Cup becoming the ISPS Handa Chatham Cup.