Soccer: Big weekend for the best of enemies

More brickbats than bouquets are tossed between Waitakere and Auckland in the national soccer league - but this weekend the Westies could do their cross-town rivals a massive favour.

Waitakere head to Palmerston North to play league leaders YoungHeart Manawatu on Sunday, while Auckland City entertain the bottom club, Hawkes Bay, at Kiwitea St tomorrow.

Auckland trail Manawatu by just one point and, if they pick up the expected three points from Hawkes Bay, their fiercely loyal supporters will forget the old wounds to cheer on Waitakere.

Sharpshooter Keryn Jordan is back in training after knee surgery and will be on the Auckland bench.

With three rounds to go in the league and a lot at stake, there will be an extra edge to most of the encounters.

The winners of the league will automatically qualify to compete in the Oceania qualifying tournament for the World Club Cup to be staged at North Harbour Stadium in May.

The winners of that tournament will head to Japan in December for the cup finals, where they will earn $US1 million ($1.5m) even if they are beaten in the first round.

If a New Zealand team wins through to Japan, 30 per cent of the pot will go to the franchise, 30 per cent to the players, 30 per cent to the other seven franchises and 10 per cent to the NZFC for development of the domestic game.

There is a second chance for those finishing in the top five on the final league table. They will take part in playoff games and the winning team will also play in the Oceania qualifying tournament.

If the league winners also win the playoff final, the second-placed league team will take the second spot at North Harbour.

Waitakere are fifth in the table, three points clear of Waikato, who play Otago in Rotorua on Sunday, and Wellington, who travel to Christchurch to play Canterbury.

As the league reaches its climax, organisers are hoping spectator numbers increase to match the intensity of the action.

League manager Glyn Taylor concedes that crowd figures are not very precise, but he reckons they are down by a third on last season.

"I think there may be an element of second-year syndrome," he said.

"But there's no real consistency to it.

"Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury are much the same but Manawatu, who are playing so well, can't get a crowd. Maybe that's because they've shifted from Memorial Park to The Arena, but I don't see why."

Taylor believes that the standard of play may have dropped off a little in the second half of the season and he attributes that to tiredness among players who have opted to play both regional football and the national league.

"I think players should realise that the NZFC league is the elite men's competition and if they're serious about developing their careers, they stand a better chance to progress from the national league.

"I'm not knocking the regional leagues, but we don't want players playing both and I think franchises will have to manage that."


Fixtures

Next week: Hawkes Bay v Waikato, Auckland v Manawatu, Waitakere v Wellington, Otago v Canterbury.