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Hagley Park In Stadium Live FeedAuckland FC ready to deliver on the hype in highly anticipated A-League debut
Stephen Foote • October 17th, 2024 10:29 am
After a brief seven months of build-up, the time for talking is almost over for newcomers Auckland FC, who will take to the pitch to kick off their inaugural A-League Men's season on Saturday.
The Black Knights will run out to what they expect will be a raucous crowd at their new home at Go Media Stadium against the Brisbane Roar, where they'll face an intriguing litmus test of just how well they stack up among their competition.
The City of Sails hasn't had a team of their own to get behind since the ill-fated Football Kingz/New Zealand Knights, who battled through a forgettable six-season run before being replaced by the Wellington Phoenix in 2007.
Auckland FC goalkeeping coach Jonathan Gould believes his side can fill that void and give locals - and particularly aspiring young players - some new homegrown idols.
"There's almost been a generation since the last time we had a team in the city, and you think of the amount of kids that are actually going through the system of football and they need something to aspire to," Gould told SENZ Breakfast.
"Now they have a team based in Auckland and some good players that we've brought into the club for them to look up to."
"I think 18 Kiwis, five imports and three Aussies. I think in all it's going to be a fantastic mix.
"I can feel the engagement and I'm looking forward to seeing if that's exposed at the weekend and we get a full house as well."
Although the full squad have only been assembled for a matter of weeks, Gould says the progress they've made as a cohesive unit both on and off the pitch under coach Steve Corica gives him confidence the team will hit the pitch running come Saturday.
Having spent six seasons as a player with Scottish heavyweights Celtic, plus three separate coaching stints with the Phoenix, Gould knows what a genuinely unified team looks like, and he thinks this Auckland FC unit fits that mould.
"The hardest thing is probably bringing that group together in such a short space of time," he noted.
"But I can feel it already. I've been lucky enough to be around teams that have been successful, and that camaraderie and the ability for players to knit, you can see it every single day here. We're hearing it even more on the training field, the amount of talking they're doing.
"But at lunchtimes, when we all sit down together, that's the biggest noise. One of the things that helps that is there's no mobile phones allowed, so we've got to converse.
"But you can feel it and everybody is really excited."
Captained by J-League veteran Hiroki Sakai, the make-up of the squad is diverse, featuring players from Belgium, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Japan, as well as some exciting young Kiwi talent, most notably Liam Gillion and Jesse Randall, who Gould says have already made quite an impression on him.
All that remains now is to deliver the quality on the pitch to solidify that burgeoning bond with the football faithful of Tāmaki Makaurau, beyond the staunch group of hardcore fans already established within 'The Port', their own answer to the Phoenix's 'Yellow Fever'.
"We've got to have that connection with the city," Gould insists.
"Connections are a big word in sport and you've only got to look at the supporters that we've got on board already in the group.
"The Port have invested heavily as people and they've sold out their sections. So, we're going to have incredible support there on the day.
"Having said that, we've got to make sure that we put the team on a path that excites them."
Listen to the full interview below:
