KEY POINTS:
It's being billed as the game of the season - unbeaten Team Wellington at home to perennial champions Auckland City, with the top spot in the New Zealand Football Championship race at stake - but a bigger issue is clouding tomorrow's glamour Newtown Park clash.
The words of
warning uttered this week in Japan by Fifa boss Sepp Blatter, throwing doubts on future Oceania participation in the Club World Cup, has sent shockwaves reverberating around NZFC clubs.
Suggestions the Wellington Phoenix should somehow be promoted to meet Blatter's demand that only "professional" clubs be allowed to parade on the world stage find no favour with local clubs and, one must suspect, even less support from the island nations who see the O-League as their only chance to play "outside the square".
The NZFC clubs pay plenty to pitch up and play each summer. With no prizemoney, their only reward is to win through to the O-League and on to the Fifa Club World Cup.
Sure, there is some useful money to be picked up in getting through to those finals, but New Zealand/Oceania clubs insist that giving their players the opportunity to play at the tournament and thereby expose them to international scouts/clubs is the over-riding incentive to go all out in the NZFC.
Take that away and the future of the championship is questionable.
The eight clubs are looking to their parent body - New Zealand Football - to help out but they are not holding their collective breaths.
"It looks to me as though New Zealand Football are trying to kill off the NZFC," said spokesman and Auckland City chairman Ivan Vuksich yesterday. "Bringing the Phoenix in will kill off the O-League.
"Why would clubs bother putting in the efforts they are if they know in the end there is going to be no hope of having a shot at the Club World Cup. With a game like we have on Sunday, the whole reason is to go down there, win and give ourselves the best chance of eventually winning through to play in the O-League."
There has to be a real incentive for the eight NZFC franchises, who pay a $60,000 entry fee. They will get some of that back when the money Waitakere United picked up in Japan last week is divided up but the clubs still have costs of up to $450,000 to play in what is still regarded as an amateur competition.
The US$500,000 ($637,000) collected by Waitakere United is split three ways after US$50,000 is given to Waitakere as a contribution to their sizeable expenses. The remaining US$450,000 goes to Waitakere (40 per cent), the other seven NZFC clubs (50 per cent or about US$32,000 each) and 10 per cent to New Zealand Football.
"In striving to win, clubs have looked offshore," said Vuksich. "There must be 20 overseas players spread among the eight clubs with many of those the best from Oceania countries. It is all about lifting the standard of the NZFC teams and, just as importantly, the island nations who benefit from having players playing at a higher level."
Of Blatter's suggestion that Waitakere United were outclassed, Vuksich is dismissive.
"Other than that terrible start when they conceded those two early goals, they were competitive just as Auckland City was when we played up there last year."
United lost 3-1 to Iranian champions Sepahan.
United's home game against Otago United tomorrow will be interesting with coach Chris Milicich likely to make changes from the starting Xl he fielded a week ago in Tokyo.
There have been hints that Waitakere striker and Solomon Islands international Benjamin Totori was noticed in Japan and may well come under further scrutiny in club play from now on.
Team Wellington face their big test without a number of key players including captain Andy Barron, top goalscorer Daniel Ellensohn and Jamie Farrington. Coach Stu Jacobs has named the same lineup who beat Canterbury 1-0 away two weeks ago.
City have James Pritchett and Grant Young back from injury leaving no place for Craig Wylie and George Suri in the travelling squad.