Soccer: Reinvigorated striker fit to recapture magic

Paul Ifill settled in quickly with the Wellington Phoenix. Photo / Getty Images

Paul Ifill probably would have given the game away if things hadn't worked out with the Wellington Phoenix last season.

After 12 years as a professional, the last two-and-a-half of them stuck in a dark place at Crystal Palace, football was wearing him down.

He was battling injuries to body and mind and he was caught in a muddy patch even he couldn't dribble out of.

The fact the 30-year-old was a finalist for the A-League's Player of the Season gong and picked up four of the Phoenix's five major player awards for 2009-10, on top of the two-year contract extension he signed, reveals a lot.

He's even investigated gaining New Zealand residency and is looking to set up a football business soon.

Ifill feels "reinvigorated" and it shows in his football. Few players in the A-League are more dangerous than the Barbados international but defenders now know what to expect when they face him.

It could mean he finds the going a little tougher this season, as he did against Sydney FC in last season's preliminary final when he was marked out of the game.

"It's going to be harder but I feel a lot stronger and fitter going into this season," he says.

"Last season, I came in on the back of a seven-day pre-season. This time around, I have had three months to get myself right. My fitness is a lot further forward.

"That bodes well. There were things I probably couldn't do last year that I will be able to do this year, like getting around the park more. I think there's more to come so I'm not too worried. There are still a few tricks up the sleeve that I didn't do last year, so I should be OK."

He needs to be. If the Phoenix are to challenge for the title in 2010-11, they will need Ifill to recapture his magic of last season.

He knocked in 12 goals in the regular season - still seven short of two-time A-League Golden Boot winner Shane Smeltz - but chimed in with another nine assists. Some of his value, though, was less quantifiable.

He scored vital goals and made important runs. His confidence filtered through his team-mates and he courted attention from defenders which allowed others to find space. It was why other clubs circled when they discovered Ifill had been signed by Wellington for only one year.

"I probably would have given [the game] up if things went pear-shaped [with Wellington]," he says. "I'm glad I didn't. I don't know [why playing in New Zealand agrees with me so much]. I'm trying to work it out. It's definitely not the weather.

"I could have made more than double what I'm earning now in the Championship but I needed something different. It's not always about money. Sometimes it's about being happy and I hadn't felt like I had been happy playing football for a long time.

"From the minute I got here, I felt like I had made the right move. I didn't know much about New Zealand or the A-League but I settled into the club really quickly. It's that sort of club. It was a good move for me at the right time in my career. It reinvigorated my football."

Ifill started all 30 games last season. There's a hope, a need, that he plays most of them again this time around.

But the addition of the Melbourne Heart into the A-League has added three games to the season and it also means midweek matches, something Ifill thought he had left in England. There will be times when Wellington play three games in seven days.

"The way I look at it is that it's only three more games a season," Ifill says, "and I played all 30 last year. It's a matter of how I'm managed.

"Ricki [Herbert] knows me now and what I can do and when I can do it. If I have to sit out a training session here and there, it's not going to be a problem because I will be right for the game.

"It's not like I am 35, 36 and struggling for motivation. The fact I got through a full season last year will stand me in good stead because I feel better than I did 12 months ago.

"Sometimes it's psychological. Because I hadn't done it in two-and-a-half years at Crystal Palace, I maybe thought I can't do it any more and my body's not built to do it. Having played all 30 last year has made me rethink. Maybe I can do it."