Tribulietx coy on All Whites
The leading domestic candidate for the vacant All Whites job is keeping his cards close to his chest.
Auckland City’s Ramon Tribulietx has firmly established himself as one of the standout coaches in New Zealand, with an unrivalled record of success both domestically, in Oceania competitions, and at the Club World Cup.
New Zealand Football has made a pro-level coaching licence a requirement as it begins the search for Anthony Hudson’s successor, so the Spaniard is at the head of a very short list of local contenders, but before he and his team flew out to the United Arab Emirates for this year’s Club World Cup, he was coy when asked if he was interested.
‘‘I’m only interested in Auckland City right now,’’ he said. ‘‘Outside of that, who knows, life will tell.’’
In an interview with TVNZ, he was equally non-committal, but said ‘‘if one day I can help the country, I’d be very proud’’.
Tribulietx’s record speaks for itself.
He has been solely in charge of Auckland City since the start of the 2011-12 national league season, and in that time they have finished top after the regular season five times out of six and won the grand final twice while losing in it three times.
They have also won the OFC Champions League six times, and in six trips to the Club World Cup, where they as amateurs are pitted against professional teams, they have never come away embarrassed.
They have had five first-round losses - either to the reigning Japanese or Moroccan champions - two where the winner came in the 88th minute or later, one where it came in the 66th, and two where they went behind relatively early, but only lost 2-0 in the end.
Then there was 2014, where they won their first-round match, against Moghreb Tetouan of Morocco; won their quarterfinal, against ES Setif of Algeria, the African champions, on penalties; lost in extra time in their semifinal, to San Lorenzo of Argentina, the South American champions; then beat Cruz Azul of Mexico, the North and Central American champions, in the playoff for third and fourth, again on penalties.
That campaign stands as the crowning achievement of Tribulietx’s career so far - alongside his overall consistency in a country where inconsistency is the norm - and it is what he is trying to replicate this time around, where the first round pits his team against Al Jazira, the reigning UAE Arabian Gulf League champions, next Thursday.
After the golden run in 2014, which came at the end of a year where he had applied for the All Whites job but was unsuccessful, Tribulietx told Stuff that he wanted to be coaching a professional team, and said he wasn’t sure if he would apply for the national team role again.
Three years on, when asked if he was surprised that he was still at Auckland City, and not at a professional club - he has shown interest in several A-League jobs, again with no success - Tribulietx said he wasn’t.
‘‘I am happy to be here at Auckland, I’m loving it, I have an opportunity to keep coaching professionally - that is what I do, it is my profession.
‘‘Football is a very funny sport you can’t have long-term objectives, because you get lost. Football changes very quickly you can lose two games and then all of a sudden, what looked so nice doesn’t look that nice.
‘‘I’m very happy to be working for Auckland City. I’m enjoying it. This is my passion, I love what I’m doing, and it’s a pleasure for me to keep doing it at Auckland City.’’
Tribulietx signed a new oneyear deal with Auckland City in June, as has been his practice of late.