KEY POINTS:
Colin Tuaa does not see Sunday's match of the day as necessarily the New Zealand Football Championship clincher but admits a win over arch-rivals Waitakere United would put one foot firmly in the door.
City go into the match at Henderson's Trusts Stadium three points clear at the
top of the table. A win would stretch that to six with just two games - both at their traditional Kiwitea St headquarters - to play.
"We owe them one," said Tuaa, who has watched his team draw 1-1 at home and lose 0-2 away to Waitakere in championship matches this season. They also lost 0-1 in their O-League clash - City's only loss at their adopted home ground at the Croatian Cultural Society's headquarters. "A win would be nice at this stage of the season and give us a real shot at the title."
United coach Chris Milicich too sees this as the game that will potentially decide the season and with it the chance to grab a spot in next season's O-League.
Both teams go into the match after tentative, no-frills winning efforts last weekend. Waitakere overcame Canterbury United 1-0 and Auckland City edged past Otago United 2-0.
"Neither game was particularly compelling," said Milicich. "Both teams played like they wanted to get through without injuries and neither were prepared to commit too many players forward. Normally, given the amount of ball we had, we would have put four in by halftime and it would have been game over."
He at least came away from North Harbour Stadium without any injury concerns and will have a full 20-man squad from which to name his 16 for Sunday's game. Benjamin Totori returns from the Olympic qualifiers in Fiji and will go into the starting line-up alongside either Commins Menapi - who scored the winning goal last week but did little else - or former City striker Daniel Kopricvic.
Neil Emblen returns to the United starting XI after being away for the Canterbury game and will almost certainly join veteran defenders Danny Hay and Jonathan Perry at the back. Milicich has yet to make a call on whether Simon Eaddy or Richard Gillespie will start in goal.
With Ross Nicholson out with a groin injury, Tamati Williams will again be in goal for City.
Tuaa will have captain Ben Sigmund back after resting him last week. He could be joined in defence by Salesh Kumar who also missed the Otago game. With George Suri suspended, Tuaa does at least have suitable replacements. Jeff Campbell, who pulled a hamstring in his brief appearance on Sunday, will sit out.
Keryn Jordan continues his comeback but Tuaa has yet to decide whether he is ready to join the starting XI. "He has been making good progress," said Tuaa. "But he is obviously still down on match fitness so we will continue to monitor his progress."
Most interest elsewhere will be in tomorrow's late game in Napier between Hawke's Bay United and Team Wellington. The home side still have the faintest of playoff hopes but those would disappear with a loss. Stu Jacobs' Wellingtonians can still get into the top two and ensure themselves of at least a home semifinal but that rests on taking all three points.
Waikato FC can pick up some points when they play Canterbury at Mt Maunganui's Links Ave while Otago can ensure they do not finish at the foot of the table against struggling YoungHeart Manawatu tomorrow.