Soccer: Squad with a fresh look

By TERRY MADDAFORD

There is little to suggest the Football Kingz will find it easy in their fifth NSL season.

Like most of their 12 rivals, the Kingz have a new-look squad and one which the faithful will hope can do better than the past two sub-par efforts.

The fans will point to their improved showing last season, up two places from last to 11th, as perhaps a sign things might be on the move.

They will also take some satisfaction in winning six times last season, double the number they managed the year before.

But for coach Ken Dugdale and his team it will be no cakewalk through to the playoffs.

Hopefully, the new-look attack will help address the obvious deficiency up front.

Two seasons ago the Kingz scored 28 goals, but conceded 58, while last season they managed just 26 goals, barely one a game, but did better defensively in giving up 45, almost two a game.

Harry Ngata, basically a midfielder, led the goalscoring race for the club last season with eight, but he, his team-mates and Dugdale will be hoping that burden can be lifted from him this term.

In signing Australians Paul Harries and Tallan Martin, Dugdale has two out-and-out strikers to join Mark Beldham and Brad Scott as the front-runners, with the support coming from Norwegian Aleksander Midtsian, Chad Coombes and Ngata.

Only nine players from last year's squad are back at Ericsson.

Chris Jackson needs only 21 appearances to join the "100 club", a milestone reached last season by Ngata.

There will be added interest in the debut seasons for internationals David Rayner, Glen Collins, Jeremy Christie and Jason Rowley, who see the Kingz as a pathway to a place in the All Whites squad for the summer's Oceania Olympic qualifiers.

Chilean Patricio Almendra has gone, but Mauro Donoso is back and from what he showed in non-league football this winter, many are expecting big things from the Chilean defender.

The Kingz defence, which could at any one time include Norwegian Espen Schjerven, Donoso and Australian John Tambouras, has an international look.

Hopefully, they can gel and manage something better than the 103 goals conceded in the past two seasons.

The club have plenty to play for, and not only in terms of this season's results.

They will need a new Fifa-backed licence, which must be endorsed by New Zealand Soccer and Soccer Australia, to continue in the NSL.

They must also show they are a genuine contender for the proposed revamped "elite" league, which is scheduled to start next year.

That will not come cheap so there must be a real effort by the club to win back the support they attracted in their early days.

Season tickets have gone on sale for the 10 matches at Ericsson Stadium. The tickets cost $105 (adult) or $25 (child/student/pensioner), with a family ticket $230 (two adults/three children).