The phrase ‘don’t give up the day job’ may be cruelly plaguing Auckland City’s interim coach Ivan Vicelich and his players tonight. The semi-pro New Zealand team were ruthlessly swept aside 10-0 by Bayern Munich in their FIFA Club World Cup opener in Cincinnati tonight.
In what can only be described as a one-sided contest, the German champions were 6-0 up by half-time. Kingsley Coman’s sixth-minute header got the ball rolling before Sacha Boey, Thomas Muller, Coman again, and a brace for Michael Olise rendered the game all over by the break. The rout continued in the second half as Jamal Musiala came off the bench to score a hat-trick and Muller scored again to make it double figures.
The only consolation to Vicelich and his team was that they managed to shut out England captain Harry Kane. However, to rub salt into their wounds, the former All Whites international has taken a financial hit to travel to America.
In his pre-match press conference, he admitted his employer hadn’t given him any special dispensation to take his side to the tournament, saying: “I’ve always got to do a combination of annual leave and leave without pay.
“I’ll be suffering a bit with the rent and bills and stuff like that. But to play against Bayern and Benfica and Boca Juniors (their group opponents), it’s 100 per cent worth it.”
Club keeper Conor Tracey, who works in a warehouse for a pharmaceutical company in New Zealand, was also realistic with his pre-match words. He said: “The challenge is to compete as well as we can against them. We’re no fools. We know what we’re up against.”
Auckland compete in the Northern League of their national system. They’ve been allocated the only Oceania spot granted for the tournament, having won the OFC Champions League for the last four seasons.
They next play Benfica in Orlando on Friday, before a final group game with Boca Juniors in Nashville four days later. By then, Vicelich and his players might just be longing to get back to work.