Soccer: Auckland City eye Tahitian challenge

Auckland City have advanced to the OFC Champions League final

Auckland City FC can book their sixth OFC Champions League final this Sunday when the New Zealand champions face AS Pirae in the second leg semi-final clash.

The New Zealand club handed AS Pirae a 3-0 hammering in the first leg at Kiwitea Street last week thanks to a double by Emiliano Tade and Portuguese striker Joao Moreira.

Now the Navy Blues require just a draw to ensure a record fourth consecutive finals appearance.

Coach Ramon Tribulietx is wary of writing off the Tahitian challenge despite the healthy advantage.

"I'll be expecting Pirae to do everything to come back into this tie for sure, they are a very aggressive and direct team and I expect a very intense return leg.

"I am sure that no one in our team thinks that this tie is finished, it was a good result last week but football can hurt you badly if you take your foot off the pedal," he says.

AS Pirae struggled to keep pace with Auckland City FC and were fortunate not to concede more goals after two decent penalty shouts were waved away by referee Bruce George.

Tribulietx says while those decisions didn't go Auckland City FC's way, it did illustrate his team's dominance over the Tahitians on the day.

"After watching Pirae play I thought that we could generate a lot of chances if we were smart with our football, and I think we did so.

"We generated very good chances besides those three goals. I don't normally expect one scoreline or another, I just try to understand how our football can hurt the opposition and which things we need to do to achieve that," he said.

Auckland City FC have one injury concern ahead of the return match with former All Whites defender James Pritchett recovering from a hamstring injury.

Tribulietx has two options in that wide area including Andrew Milne and Darren White, who replaced Pritchett last week and turned in an impressive performance into the bargain.

"We will see how people recover during the week but Darren has played in that position before a few times in training and I think he is well suited to play there. We will decide what we do as we head into the game," he said.

With AS Pirae needing to score three to get back into the tie and hope they keep Auckland City FC's strikers at bay, the first goal at Stade Pater could be crucial.

"You can't underestimate anyone and you can't write off any possibility in football. We need to make sure that we compete well and that we generate enough chances to win the game, this will be our mind set," he said.

Tade, who won the ASB Premiership golden boot, is on course to become the first player to win both the domestic and OFC Champions League golden boot awards.

The Argentine striker scored 12 regular season goals as Auckland City FC swept to their first domestic championship in five years.

Naea Bennett of AS Pirae tops the Oceania charts with five goals in three games, while Tade sits behind him with four.

Team-mate Joao Moreira has three alongside Amicale's Kensi Tangis and AS Pirae's Raimana Li Fung Kuee.

The match kicks off at 8.45pm on Saturday 3 May TAHT/Sunday 4 May 6.45pm NZST.