@KiwiMurph said in A League 2024/25:
Sounds like Unite Round is as much of a flop as Super Round
A waste of time.
Good fighting win for Auckland FC, their first game in Aus. There wasn't much left in the tank by the end but they fought really hard. Going with 5 at the back so early with Tommy Smith coming on was a risk but it payed off.
I wish Luis Toomey would get more minutes. The kid has something special about him.
Another win for the mighty Auckland FC, which makes it 5 wins out of 5, with 5 clean sheets! Sets up a huge derby with the Nix next week!
Not A league but didn't know where to put this, but awesome news for Auckland City FC (nnot Auckland FC), who have draw Bayern Munich, Benfica and Boca Juniors in next years new Club World Cup format. An awesome moment for an amateur side. I spent a lot of my teenage years going down to Kiwitea St to watch them play and now they have this to look forward to. Good luck to them.
Another win for Auckland FC!!! 2 victories over the Nix now, and 6 from 6! However, we did finally conceded today. Another great turnout too.
7 days later
A late equalizer from Moreno gives Auckland FC a well deserved 2-2 draw in the Melbourne heat. We struggled in the first half but really dominated the 2nd and could easily have had all 3 points. Paulsen had a shocker out there including the howler which resulted in an own goal, but he's been very good other than that. Moreno was also an inspired sub, with his free kick at the end getting us a late point.
Dropped points for the first time, but a great performance in the 2nd half.
Good old fashioned hiding dished out to Auckland FC to suffer their first loss of the season.
Good wake up call for the boys, this day was gonna come sooner or later (maybe not as heavy as this haha).
Still, enjoying having an Auckland team back in the comp! Big test away at Central Coast next week.
@canefan said in A League 2024/25:
It's great to have two competitive NZ teams in the comp.
Yup, enjoying watching the Nix bringing through players too! Thought I'd hate them, but I actually enjoy watching them play and enjoy seeing their youngsters.
7 days later
Good results for the NZ teams today, both walking away with victories.
Auckland FC 4 points clear!!!
@African-Monkey said in A League 2024/25:
Good results for the NZ teams today, both walking away with victories.
Auckland FC 4 points clear!!!
Good to see the Phoenix end their losing run. They do however look like a shadow of the team they were last year unfortunately.
Important win for Auckland to get their season back on track.
@Canes4life said in A League 2024/25:
@African-Monkey said in A League 2024/25:
Good results for the NZ teams today, both walking away with victories.
Auckland FC 4 points clear!!!
Good to see the Phoenix end their losing run. They do however look like a shadow of the team they were last year unfortunately.
Important win for Auckland to get their season back on track.
@Canes4life said in A League 2024/25:
@African-Monkey said in A League 2024/25:
Good results for the NZ teams today, both walking away with victories.
Auckland FC 4 points clear!!!
Good to see the Phoenix end their losing run. They do however look like a shadow of the team they were last year unfortunately.
Important win for Auckland to get their season back on track.
Yeah very young Phienix side running around these days. Guys like Walker, Piper, Hughes, Sheridan , Sutton and 16 year old Luke Brooke-Smith have seen a fair bit of action this season.
Like Central Coast, a bit of a rebuild going on for the Nix.
Auckland FC share the spoils with the Melbourne Victory. Fair result, De Vries had a huge chance saved somehow by Duncan early, while Velupillay nearly snatched it at the end for the Victory. Good crowd of 15,000 especially at this time of the year. Auckland stretch the lead at the top to 5 points with Adelaide still to play.
Nix play Melbourne City on Friday.
14 days later
A gutsy effort by the Phoenix to get a scoreless draw against Sydney. A good debut from Alby Kelly-Heald in goal. So many young kids playing at the end. I'm not sure where the goals are going to come from though.
7 days later
Auckland FC with a dramatic late equalizer in last night's top of the table clash with Adelaide. Great heart shown by them after the ref decided to chuck on an Adelaide shirt and award a goal that should never have stood. A classic case of we will not let a Kiwi side go top of the league if ever you'll see. He should be sacked for good after that. It wasn't incompetence, it was straight out corruption in the 2nd half, you'd think we were the Wahs with some of the calls we were getting. Still, great point against the odds.
@African-Monkey Yeah when the local commentator takes one look and says "Oh - that'll be disallowed" and then the goal still stands you know somethign isn't quite right.
Shocking miss form the defender on the cross though, but glad they snaffled a point at the end. Compelling stuff!!
Keeping an eye on the transfer window, Bournemouth could be loaning out Mark Travers. If this happens a couple of other moves may quickly happen, like Neto may come back from Arsenal (unlikely) or potentially Paulsen gets called in as back up to Kepa. I have been enjoying watching Paulsen play for AKL FC so lets see what happens
3 months later
Well there we have it, Auckland FC win the Premiers Plate in their first season with 2 games to go.
I think they belong now.
@African-Monkey said in A League 2024/25:
Well there we have it, Auckland FC win the Premiers Plate in their first season with 2 games to go.
I think they belong now.
Very impressive. Meanwhile, Phoenix fans wait for another season
@Machpants said in A League 2024/25:
So no play off/finals? They've won?
There are playoffs. Auckland have come 1st in the regular season, so they therefore win the Premiers plate, which is also known as the A League Premiership.
Whoever wins the playoffs are awarded the A League Championship.
3 months later
Last year's third placegetters likely non starters this season
6 months later
Is this really the first post of the current A-league season?
The Phoenix got pumped 5-0 by Auckland FC yesterday and coach Giancarlo Italiano promptly resigned. They have not been good for some time, I don't pay enough attention to know if the problem is either because of lack of spending, poor acquisitions, or poor coaching and tactics (or a combination of these things). They appear to be a mess right now
Yeah, I did briefly look for a thread last night after that horrendous own goal.
For all the grief the Warriors get as a sporting franchise, after 20-odd years the Phoenix have been extremely ordinary in an Australian comp too.
@Donsteppa is one playoff run (or two?) all they have to show. Auckland FC have been far more successful in a short time
I would talk more about it, but I'd be talking to myself about this league so I don't bother lol.
@African-Monkey said in A League 2024/25:
I would talk more about it, but I'd be talking to myself about this league so I don't bother lol.
No posts since August 2025 says it all I guess. There's no one here who is significantly interested and willing to drive the conversation
@canefan said in A League 2024/25:
@African-Monkey said in A League 2024/25:
I would talk more about it, but I'd be talking to myself about this league so I don't bother lol.
No posts since August 2025 says it all I guess. There's no one here who is significantly interested and willing to drive the conversation
Yeah, I follow it a fair bit, have a season ticket to Perth Glory games and watch all Auckland games, and catch whatever Nix games that i can, so I do follow it a fair bit but yeah, it's not the most popular of leagues, the crowds across the league are down, the Nix have some of the worst crowds in the comp, so interest in the comp in general is low, especially as it's shown on an app here in Aus.
@canefan They do have a billionaire owner and a very relaxed salary cap for the first couple of years. The Phoenix’s problem is that the owners treat it like the Brighton model develop them young then once they hit the big time sell them off for profit. That money doesn’t go back into the squad hence why we’re full of journeyman.
@African-Monkey There’s still the diehard regulars, but the reason the crowds are down are because we keep losing an playing boring football I wouldn’t mind if we played a more exciting game, not the slow build up at the back. With Chiefy gone will be interesting to see who comes in.
@mikey07 said in A League 2024/25:
@canefan They do have a billionaire owner and a very relaxed salary cap for the first couple of years. The Phoenix’s problem is that the owners treat it like the Brighton model develop them young then once they hit the big time sell them off for profit. That money doesn’t go back into the squad hence why we’re full of journeyman.
And that's what the league has become. Playing teenagers in the hope that overseas clubs come knocking to make profit. Most of these kids who come in are nowhere near ready for the A League let alone making it at overseas clubs.
We'll use Isaac Hughes at the Nix. A talented defender who is good with ball at his feet, but he's become a regular well before his time and is being remembered more for his mistakes at this stage of his career. It's a tough place to learn on the job. Compare that with Jesse Randall at Auckland FC who has spent a lot of his time playing in the lower leagues in NZ, has been eased into the Auckland FC side since about the middle of last season in his 20s, has easily been Auckland's player of the season and look, he's signed for Dundee Utd im Scotland for next season.
I get the process of trying to build stars to sell them, but there's still a right way of doing it, instead of just throwing boys in for the sake of it. I hope for Wellington and NZs sake that Luke Brooke-Smith is looked after. He's a real talent.
@mikey07 said in A League 2024/25:
@African-Monkey There’s still the diehard regulars, but the reason the crowds are down are because we keep losing an playing boring football I wouldn’t mind if we played a more exciting game, not the slow build up at the back. With Chiefy gone will be interesting to see who comes in.
Maybe Ifill realistically?
Nice to hear about Chiefy. One of his main downfalls I feel in regards to Auckland was letting his emotions get in the way of the task at hand. When he starts trying to pick fights with them in the media, it showed that he wasn't in control of the situation and that he had let Auckland rattle them which had filter to the playing group. Leave that shit to the fans.
A change probably for the best.
@African-Monkey quite surprised the Nix don’t go after Randall he as looked pretty good even before signing with Auckland
@mikey07 said in A League 2024/25:
@African-Monkey quite surprised the Nix don’t go after Randall he as looked pretty good even before signing with Auckland
Yeah and even when he did sign for Auckland, he was out of favour for Liam Gillion.
Gillion hasn't quite made the grade whilst Randall has gone on to become one of the best attackers in the league.
And after all this, Wellington are on 5 points out of the top 6. It's a tight league.
@Donsteppa said in A League 2024/25:
Yeah, I did briefly look for a thread last night after that horrendous own goal.
For all the grief the Warriors get as a sporting franchise, after 20-odd years the Phoenix have been extremely ordinary in an Australian comp too.
That spectacular own goal did earn us a mention on Guardian Football Weekly and the Totally Football Show podcasts (including Jason Pine commentary snippet on the latter) and NZ football doesn't get many mentions - last one might be the 3 first half own goals by a Football Fern.
