Chris Rattue: Auckland prove themselves to be the real deal

Auckland City FC's Angel Berlanga, right, celebrates with Auckland City FC's Ryan De Vries, who made the assist, after scoring during the semi final. Photo / AP.

Real Madrid can sleep easy. They won't be facing the might of Auckland City. They won't have to spread their tentacles into Sandringham, trying to find out what makes Ivan Vicelich and co tick.

Auckland City won't face Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos and the other superstars from the Spanish giants in the FIFA club World Cup, after the 1-2 loss to San Lorenzo in the Marrakesh semifinal.

But Auckland City did prove themselves to be the real deal. They matched the Argentinian outfit, were patient, tactical, fought back from a deficit, and were certainly not over-awed. They had enough chances to win or push the game into a penalty shootout. It was a terrific, tense game to watch.

Bumpy grounds may have played a part in their path to the semifinal, but Auckland City were not disgraced on the flat surface in Marrakesh.

They have provided one of the two most surprising Kiwi sports experiences of the year.

The first was Jack Bauer's amazing ride in the Tour de France, when the unheralded domestique - the name given to the team servants - was a few revolutions short of winning a stage, having charged off on an extraordinary 200km-plus breakaway with one other rider.

Auckland City have flown the flag for New Zealand football in many ways. What will surprise many people is the make-up of the team, with players from about a dozen countries, including Spaniard Angel Berlanga who scored a brilliant goal from a tight angle against San Lorenzo.

Some may see the number of imports as a negative, but what it actually represents is a small outfit - by world standards - in the heart of suburban Auckland who can foot it in a number of ways on the world stage. In a way, it also reflects the changing demographics of Auckland. At Owairaka Primary School, which is in the vicinity of Auckland City's HQ at Kiwitea St, the roll includes plenty more nationalities than that.

Maybe the semifinal loss is a blessing in disguise, because Real Madrid would almost certainly have ripped a tiring Auckland City apart. But expectations had been raised. At the final whistle, after an absorbing two hours, it felt like a let down. That's the way it should be, but Auckland City will return home with heads held very high and with a whopping pay day to boot.

Hopefully they'll find the energy to play well in the third-place playoff against Mexican side Cruz Azul.