Oli Sail moves to third A-League club after Europe hopes dashed

RNZ News

18 hours ago

Goalkeeper Oli Sail will play for his hometown in the A-League after stops in Wellington and Perth.
Photo:
Photosport
Auckland FC goalkeeper Oli Sail's
homecoming
has happened sooner than he expected but after a couple of off-shore moves did not work out he is grateful for an opportunity to get his career back on track.
It has been 13 years since Sail last lived in Auckland, when he left there was no professional football side in the city.
Until a few days ago he was based a six-hour flight away from his Auckland-based family in Perth. But it was not long ago that he had dreams of being on the other side of the world.
"It wasn't something I envisioned probably this early," Sail said of the return to the City of Sails.
"I was hoping to pursue European opportunities only a couple of years ago. But it feels like the right move to me now."
At this stage of Sail's career he wants to be a starting goalkeeper but he is aware that will not be a given in Auckland especially as he is a late-comer that got the call due to an injury crisis in the keeping ranks.
A move down to the capital resulted in his first professional contract when he signed with the Wellington Phoenix in the A-League. He made his debut in March 2018 after first getting on the bench nearly a year earlier.
After seeing out the last four games of the 2017/18 season between the sticks he spent the majority of the following season on the bench - making only four appearances in the Phoenix's 27 games.
Between late April 2019 and February 2021 Sail was riding the pine or out of the Phoenix squad all together.
On February 21 2021 he made the Phoenix goalkeeping position his own playing 25 games in a row, across the end of one season and the start of the next, before injury saw him miss two matches. He came back and played 17 of the next 18 games.
Sail played every game of the 2022/23 season for Wellington before moving to Perth Glory for the last two seasons.
Oli Sail of Perth Glory FC, playing against his new club Auckland FC in April this year.
Photo:
Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
The move to Western Australia did not play out how Sail hoped as he was in and out a side that was at the bottom of the A-League table and was on the outer with the All Whites.
He said with the FIFA World Cup less than a year away "every decision is important".
"The last two years have been difficult for myself in terms of football the move hasn't gone at all the way I planned and in terms of putting my hand up the selection for that World Cup, I felt like this would give me the best platform and opportunity.
"I'm very grateful for Perth for allowing me to pursue this, because they didn't have to. I was coming to the final year of my contract and they're going through a tough situation and they're looking to have a positive build on a rough couple of years.
"So they could easily have asked me to stay and play there but they were good enough to let me pursue this."
Sail was named in the
All Whites squad
for next month's two matches against Australia but that might be the first competitive game he has played since last turning out for Glory in the Australia Cup in July - when Perth lost on penalties to the Phoenix.
Because he has already played for Perth in this year's Cup competition he can not play for Auckland for the remainder of that competition.
Oli Sail of Perth Glory FC and Guillermo May of Auckland FC
Photo:
Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Auckland play fellow A-League side Sydney FC on Saturday in the quarter-finals of the Australia Cup and Sail said he would be on Auckland keeper Michael Woud's cheer squad - for now.
"I have the opportunity to come in here and lead and bring my experiences, and that'll help the group, hopefully, but for the time being it's Mikey's Jersey and he's playing well.
"He's kept two clean sheets so far, and I know last year would have been frustrating for him. AP [Alex Paulsen] was playing superbly, and that's how it goes as a goalkeeper sometimes you get stuck behind something like that.
"So he'll be hungry and I'll be hungry, and we'll push each other and that can only be good for the both of us in the group."
Getting to be the go-to goalkeeper for coach Steve Corica will be a challenge for Sail
.
Corica said this week that Woud was the "number one at the moment...it's his to lose and Oli just has to work hard make sure he's ready when he gets the opportunity.
"We had two very very good goalkeepers last year and we wanted the same this year."
With his experience Sail had to weigh up what game time he might get in Auckland before committing to the one year contract.
"It's a unique position in that regard. The likelihood of injuries is slimmer, and the likelihood of replacements are slimmer, generally speaking. So it's something you have to consider, but this is a successful environment that I want to be a part of and with that comes the potential that you might have to bide your time and wait for your opportunity," Sail said.
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