Soccer: A City divided not United

Auckland City FC. Photo / Greg Bowker

They might play in the same city and be the only clubs to have won the national league since it was revamped in 2004 but, as Michael Brown reports, that is where the similarities largely end between Auckland City and Waitakere United.

Age vs Youth

Auckland City's players are hardly ready to book into the retirement home, with only two of the squad contesting today's ASB Premiership final over 30 (Ivan Vicelich and Riki Van Steeden are both 34).

But they have a much more experienced look to them than Waitakere. Only Adam Thomas (19) is still in his teens in today's 19-man Auckland squad.

Compare that to Waitakere, who have had a youthful look to their squad since Neil Emblen took over as coach two seasons ago.

Injury and unavailability have robbed them of Luke Adams (16) and Sean Lovemore (18) today but they still have teenagers in Dakota Lucas, Zane Sole and Ryan De Vries (all 19), along with Tim Payne, Rory Turner (both 17) and Jordan Vale (16).

Only grizzled veterans Emblen (39), Martin Bullock (36) and Allan Pearce (28) appear to have a need for a razor blade.

Foreigners vs Locals

Auckland have four past or present All Whites in their likely starting XI but are also laced with a number of players with accents.

Angel Luis Vina Berlanga, Manel Exposito Presseguer and Albert Riera Vidal are all Spanish, while Stu Kelly is Scottish, Adam Dickinson English, Luis Corrales Costa Rican and Daniel Koprivcic was born in Croatia. Add to that David Mulligan's pseudo Scouse accent and it resembles a foreign legion.

Most, however, play as locals. League rules allow only four foreign players in a match-day squad but players are recognised as locals after only six months in the country, which means Kelly, Koprivcic, Dickinson and Corrales are so categorised.

Auckland's Spanish armada have largely fallen into their laps. Exposito was the only player they actively chased - he was coached by Auckland co-coach Ramon Tribulietx in Spain - while both Berlanga and Vidal were here for English classes and contacted Tribulietx through Facebook.

Waitakere also have a foreign flavour but rely more heavily on locals. Emblen, Bullock and Andy Ralph are all English, while De Vries was born in South Africa but recently gained New Zealand citizenship. They will be without the suspended Chris Bale (Wales) and injured Roy Krishna (Fiji).

Tortoise vs Hare

Auckland won their first two titles playing a counter-attacking style but have changed things drastically in recent times.

They prefer the possession game under Aaron McFarland and Tribulietx in their 4-3-3 system and have enough ball players to create through passing and movement rather than crash and bash.

One of Waitakere's best assets is their pace up front and they look to get the ball forward to the likes of Pearce, De Vries and Dakota Lucas as quickly as possible.

They scored a record 39 goals in the regular season while conceding only 12. They virtually play a 4-2-4 formation which puts pressure on opposition defences but can also leave them exposed down the flanks.

Auckland have had Waitakere's number recently, winning two and drawing another in their last three matches. They have a game plan to cope with Waitakere and the players to execute. This could be the difference.