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RNZ News
24-05-2025
- Sport
- RNZ News
Auckland FC's A-League debut double dream dashed by Melbourne Victory
By Mathew Nash Auckland FC's Logan Rogerson's shot was deemed offside, on Saturday night. Photo: Shane Wenzlick / Auckland FC's fairytale inaugural season in the A-League has ended in heartbreaking fashion after a 2-0 defeat to Melbourne Victory at Mount Smart Stadium saw them crash out of the A-League Finals Series semi-finals 2-1 on aggregate. Holding a 1-0 lead from the first leg in Melbourne, Auckland looked poised to reach the A-League Grand Final in their debut campaign. For 55 minutes, the Black Knights held firm. But in the space of five brutal second-half minutes, their hopes were ripped apart by two sucker-punch goals from the visitors. Victory's first came in sickening fashion. Zinédine Machach let fly from a distance and saw his shot deflect cruelly off Nando Pijnaker's knee, wrong-footing Alex Paulsen and levelling the tie. Before Auckland could recover, Bruno Fornaroli showed his class, to drift into space and hammer home the comeback completer and give Victory the advantage on the night and in the tie. Melbourne Victory's Zinédine Machach and Auckland FC's Luis Leiva, at Go Media Stadium in Auckland, on Saturday. Photo: Shane Wenzlick / From there, Auckland threw everything at their Australian rivals. They thought they had a lifeline when Logan Rogerson headed home after a looping cut-back from Guillermo May - only for the goal to be ruled out, with the ball adjudged to have gone out of play moments earlier. Replays suggested it was marginal, and Auckland will feel aggrieved the decision didn't go their way. In typical Black Knights fashion, they pushed until the final whistle, embodying the 'Late Knights' moniker that has defined much of their campaign. Deep into stoppage time it nearly paid off as Jack Duncan spilled a cross into the path of Pijnaker, only for his effort to be cleared off the line by Josh Rawlins in what proved to be the final blow. Despite the gutting end, Auckland's debut season has been nothing short of remarkable. A record crowd of 29,148 packed into Mount Smart to will their side to history, and while it wasn't to be, the foundations laid in 2025 are promising. For Melbourne Victory, it marks the second consecutive year knocking out a Kiwi side in New Zealand at this stage - first the Wellington Phoenix in 2024, now Auckland 12 months later. Steve Corica and his men will be left to rue what might have been, but they exit the competition with heads held high and a Premier's Plate to be proud of. Relive all the plays, with RNZ's blog: Auckland FC : Alex Paulsen, Hiroki Sakai, Nando Pijnaker, Tommy Smith, Louis Verstraete, Cameron Howieson, Luis Toomey, Max Mata, Guillermo May, Marlee François, Michael Woud, Liam Gillion, Francis de Vries, Callan Elliot, Jesse Randall, Jake Brimmer, Dan Hall, Neyder Moreno, Logan Rogerson, Luis Felipe Gallegos Melbourne Victory: Mitch Langerak, Adama Traore, Lachlan Jackson, Brendan Hamill, Ryan Teague, Daniel Arzani, Zinedine Machach, Nikolaos Vergos, Bruno Fornaroli, Jordi Valadon, Joshua Inserra, Nishan Velupillay, Fabian Monge, Jing Reec, Roderick Miranda, Joshua Rawlins, Alexander Badolato, Jack Duncan, Luka Kolic, Kasey Bos
Reuters
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Auckland coach Corica wants more of the same after first leg win
May 17 (Reuters) - Auckland FC coach Steve Corica called for another strong showing in the second leg of the A-League Championship semi-final against Melbourne Victory after the competition's newcomers secured a 1-0 win in the first leg on Saturday. As Corica's side seeks to become the first team from New Zealand to reach the A-League Grand Final, Logan Rogerson's 64th-minute goal at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium put Auckland in pole position ahead of the return next weekend. "Going into the home leg next week, we want more of the same," said Corica, who led Sydney FC to Grand Final success in 2019 and 2020. "They are 90 minutes away from getting into a Grand Final, which no New Zealand team has ever done. "We've created a lot of history throughout the year and this is another piece we want to add to it. It's the goal they set at the start of the year, to win the Grand Final. "That might've been a little bit silly, or people might have thought back then, but we knew we had a good team, we knew we were going to get better during the season and by winning the Premiership it shows we're the most consistent team." Auckland joined the A-League at the start of this campaign and have enjoyed a hugely successful debut, topping the table at the end of the regular season to claim the Premiership. The team's run to the semi-finals has been met by a spike in interest, prompting the club to add to the capacity of Mount Smart Stadium ahead of the return meeting with Melbourne Victory. The winner across the two legs will set up a Grand Final meeting with either Melbourne City or Western United, with Auckland due to host the season's finale should they progress. "There's going to be 30,000 next week, we've had more seats put in," said Corica. "That's how popular it is at the moment, and we want to make sure we give our fans what they deserve and that's a final. And a home final as well."
RNZ News
09-05-2025
- Sport
- RNZ News
Football: Mount Smart to increase capacity for Auckland FC A-League playoffs
Auckland FC fans at Mount Smart Stadium. Photo: PHOTOSPORT An extra 2700 seats will be added to Mount Smart Stadium for Auckland FC's A-League play-off games. The ground currently has a capacity of 24,500. The extra seats will be added to the north end in time for Auckland's second leg semi-final on Saturday, 24 May. A further 800 seats will be added should Auckland qualify for the A-League grand final and earn the right to host the showpiece event on Saturday, 31 May. Auckland FC have had strong support from their fans for all of their home games with an average crowd size of 18,000, the highest in the league. The club sold out four home games, including a record crowd of 27,009 for the derby game against Wellington. Their crowd sizes were double the league average, contributing to a 9 percent growth across the league. "The fans in Auckland, and across the league, have been fantastic this season," A-League executive chair Stephen Conroy said "As it stands, we're on track to record the highest attended season since 2016/17." This weekend was set to surpass 1.5 million total fans through the gates for the first time since 2018/19. The 2025 Finals Series kicks off this weekend with two cut-throat elimination finals, with the two winners progressing to the semi-finals to face either Auckland FC or Melbourne City, who earned the week off finishing as the top two teams in the regular season. As premiers , Auckland FC will play the lowest placed elimination final winner in a two-legged semi-final, with the first leg away, before the return leg at Mount Smart. The highest-placed team from the regular season that wins through from the semi-finals, will earn the right to host the A-League 2025 grand final. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
1News
27-04-2025
- Sport
- 1News
Scotty Stevenson: Auckland FC delivers success on a plate
Chalk up win 15 for the season, roll out the confetti canons, and cue the Tamaki Makaurau rain gods. On a dreary Auckland Sabbath under skies the colour of factory overalls, the boys in black and blue, soaking wet and chilled to the bone, got their day in the sun. So many years of trying for that mob down the road, and now they — the Phoenix, the poster boys for New Zealand professional football for 17 years — sit back and watch these brazen blokes take the glory, literally, and metaphorically. What's not love about this team and this season? Mount Smart Stadium already had the most connected club in the country calling it home, and now it appears to have the second most, too. Apologies to football fans, but you'll have to keep turning up to knock the Wahs' faithful from their perch atop the pantheon of passionate members. Still, in they have poured for the novelty of it, then for the experience, then for the thrill of it all, and now for the shot at a title. It is now categorically clear that the most reliable form of public transport in Auckland is a bandwagon. Think about it. The Auckland Knights failed to even function back when they had first crack at the chance to play in Australia, yet here we are 18 years later and in true kiwi fashion it appears adding 'Black' to the name makes everything at least 78% better. Maybe it's more than that, considering this team has lost just two games from the 25 they have played in this, their maiden season. There's the right blend of everything here. There are the billionaire owners attracting an entourage of influencers in the same way manta rays attract remora, the impeccably tailored coach with his own successful playing history and a head crowned by a gravity defying coiffure of pure silver, the players plucked from the nation's lower leagues or from the far-flung corners of the globe or, in the case of Alex Paulsen, from Wellington via Bournemouth. They have come together triumphantly, a celebration of collective will and a vision to give New Zealand's biggest city a taste of the world's biggest game. There's a tinge of Lassoian destiny about this team, minus Jason Sudekis' moustache and a sub-plot of distance as a mechanism for overcoming relationship grief, but that just adds to the sparkle, which is exactly what the Premier's Plate did when it was held aloft by captain Hiroki Sakai. The fans sung in the stands and wiping the tears and the rain away, holding aloft their scarves and banners while the Port bounced up and down at the southern end waiting for the team to come and dance along with them. There was no need for the ferris wheel on this day, or the man-made beach. The team was the star attraction, the premier's plate winning team. Auckland FC. The Black Knights. The team gave us Nando Pijnaker and Francis De Vries; Louis Verstraete and Jake Brimmer; Felipe Gallegos and Guillermo May; Marlee Francois and Neyder Mareno. There must be six languages between them but no matter the native tongue, winning is a universal language and one this team seemed to understand from the opening game. Aucklanders love a winner, and these guys are on to one. You can't keep the merch on the shelf. Everywhere you look some kid's parading about in the blue and black stripes. Aspiration meets affirmation, a heady dopamine hit if ever there was one. Now the question must be asked: Can this team take it all the way. If you ask coach Steve Corica he'll say absolutely. But he knows there is still all to play for here. They travel away to Western United for one last regular season game this week before advancing straight to the semifinals and two bites at that home and away cherry. They are the only team with their ranking fully in place. If you look at the schedule they are already there, already playing semifinal football. It's enough to make the yellow fever green with envy. And we will be watching, swept up in the mania of it all. Just as we were when the Breakers broke New Zealand's trans-Tasman duck, and when the Warriors tried. We'll be watching, marvelling at how this team could go from non-existent to damn near unbeatable in the space of a single season. If this is a taste of what's to come, then don't be afraid to fill your plate.
