Football: Phoenix search for young Auckland elite

Alex Rufer and the Phoenix reserves play in the ASB Premiership. Photo / Photosport

The Wellington Phoenix are stretching their focus well beyond the first team, as they aim to build a base for the future.

Today the team take on Newcastle, looking to arrest a mini slump after picking up just one point from their last three games.

But off-field operations are gathering momentum at an unprecedented level.

Their academy at Scots College and run in partnership with the Asia Pacific Football Academy (formerly based in Christchurch) has operated for almost two years. The reserve team are playing in the ASB Premiership and are seventh, five points off the top four.

This week, the club confirmed plans for a tour of Fiji in June and have set a goal of finding the next Roy Krishna, as they build networks across the Pacific. And the Wellington club are making a concentrated effort to unearth the best young talent in Auckland, with the recent establishment of their football school in the Queen City.

"Auckland is the largest area in the country and we want to find the best players to feed into our academy system," said Wellington Phoenix chief executive David Dome. "We will be looking across all age groups but particularly from 8-12 years old. It's one part of a lot of things happening with the club."

The Wellington Phoenix Soccer School is based in Onehunga, with talk of a second site on the North Shore. It's run by Leigh Kenyon and Hiroshi Miyazawa, coaches who worked at Wynton Rufer's Wynrs academy for almost a decade.

The Auckland branch already has 130 players enrolled, with future expansion predicted.

Meanwhile, today's match is the ultimate must-win scenario for the Phoenix, ahead of a tough trip to Melbourne to face the Victory next Sunday. It's important not only to maintain their position on the ladder but also for a confidence boost after three consecutive performances that didn't live up to the standards set earlier in the season.

The team have gone two games without finding the net, and another 90 minutes without a goal today would be their worst scoreless streak since 2008. The chances of anything but a Phoenix victory are surely slim, though, with Nathan Burns in particular out to stop a run of four games without a goal.

The Jets are out of playoff contention and have scored only four goals on their travels this season and the Phoenix have the A-League's best home defensive record, with five goals conceded in eight matches.