Deja vu for familiar foes

Here we are again, then, for the fourth year in a row.

Auckland City against Team Wellington in the OFC Champions League knockout stages, at David Farrington Park in the capital tomorrow, then at Kiwitea St next Sunday.

They meet in the semifinals this time, not the final, as they have the past three years, but whoever emerges triumphant will be a heavy favourite to win the decider, where either Lautoka of Fiji or Marist of the Solomon Islands will be the opposition in another two-legged affair, with a financial windfall and a trip to the Club World Cup in December on the line.

In the latter stages of this summer’s national league, the two teams found themselves playing each other almost to a stalemate. There was a 0-0 draw at Kiwitea St in February, followed by a 1-0 Auckland City win in the final at QBE Stadium earlier this month, courtesy of a Callum McCowatt goal with seven minutes to play.

While both matches were up for grabs for both sides right until the end, City did create more chances in both of them – albeit few clearcut ones – with Team Wellington’s goalscoring opportunities limited, despite plenty of promising buildup play.

City keeper Enaut Zubikarai was only tested twice across both matches, while Team Wellington keeper Scott Basalaj had to make six saves, in addition to watching McCowatt’s shot slide past him into the back of the net in the final.

A slight advantage, then, to City – the winners of this competition for the past seven years, unbeaten in their last 23 Oceania matches? You would think so, but the rules of the Champions League mean City are not quite the same team that played in the national league, as they are only allowed three foreign players, plus one from another Oceania nation, as opposed to seven plus one.

That means they have to make at least two changes to the side that won the national league final three weeks ago, and so this tie could come down to the answer to a single question: How much does City swapping Albert Riera and Fabrizio Tavano out, likely for Cole Peverley and Reid Drake, in midfield change the balance of the matchup?

Team Wellington coach Jose Figueira was certainly bullish about what it could mean in the wake of the national league final, telling Stuff: ‘‘If we do cross paths with Auckland again, they’ve got to put out a very different lineup, so it’ll be interesting to see what that looks like if we do we get to face each other again.’’

At the same time, City coach Ramon Tribulietx places a lot of faith in his possession-based system, and how it enables players to come and go without impacting his side’s level of performance.

He has used 23 different starting lineups in 25 competitive matches this season, only losing on the field twice – to professional United Arab Emirates outfit Al Jazira at the Club World Cup, and to Team Wellington, on the opening day of the season, last October.

Auckland City had a comfortable, but hardly emphatic, 2-0 win over Solomon Warriors, while Team Wellington dispatched Lae City Dwellers of Papua New Guinea 11-0, with Angus Kilkolly scoring four and Nati Hailemariam a hat-trick.

You’d imagine Team Wellington will be happy with just one goal tomorrow, especially when City keeper Zubikarai hasn’t conceded for 1278 minutes in counting.

Last year, in the two-legged final, Team Wellington lost 3-0 in the first leg in Auckland, leaving themselves needing a miracle back in the capital. This time they begin at home, where a stalemate would do just fine.