KEY POINTS:
A hectic schedule of 14 matches in a little over two months took its toll on the champion Auckland City squad.
Now, refreshed after a longer-than-expected end-of-season break, they are ready for the game they must win to keep hopes of defending their New Zealand Football Championship alive.
"It hasn't been easy," said coach Paul Marshall, ahead of Sunday's preliminary final against YoungHeart Manawatu in Palmerston North.
"We had 14 games between January 7 and March 10 with only four at home.
"The best clubs around the world don't have that many games.
"I can remember from playing semi-professionally in England how hard it was to play two games in a week. It has a massive effect on you."
At times, Marshall has struggled to put out a full-strength line-up but, given the break since their last game - the 3-2 away win over Team Wellington on March 10 - he is hopeful he will be close to that on Sunday.
"Even at training on Tuesday, some players were missing," said Marshall. "But given the raft of injuries we have, that's understandable. By the weekend we should have close to a full squad to select from."
City have also had to wrestle with a long-running off-field wrangle which was only settled when the club board decided to withdraw their appeal.
"We still believe we are not in the wrong. More than anything else, we would like to know why it went on for 20 weeks."
Determined to put such distractions out of mind, Marshall has turned to Sunday's must-win challenge.
To have any chance of winning the NZFC - and for some reason the winner of the grand final is deemed as the champion (something that Marshall and last season's winning coach Allan Jones do not agree with), City must win at FMG Stadium.
A loss would also end any chance of playing in the 2007-2008 O-League.
YoungHeart Manawatu coach Shane Rufer too has concerns. "Our players were all contracted until March 31 by which time the NZFC was supposed to have been finished," he said. "Now, with the final delayed until at least April 11, we have issues as some players have signed with winter league clubs from April 1. We are looking to New Zealand Soccer to help us through this."
On the field, Rufer has lost Solomon Islands defender Nelson Sale, who broke his leg in their last game - the 3-2 away win over Canterbury United which assured them of second place behind Waitakere United.
But he will now be able to include South American midfielder Gustavo Saralegui as his third import for Sunday's match.
The real danger for City is posed by ace goal-grabber Benjamin Totori. He made the Golden Boot a no-contest this season, scoring better than a goal a game with 24 goals - three more than Keryn Jordan last season. Rufer is looking forward to the game which he says will be played on one of the best surfaces in the country and in front of what he predicts will be Manawatu's biggest crowd of the season.
The winner will go on to play Waitakere in the final.
City, who have won the two previous finals and, with that, claiming spots in the O-League, will, given their strong end-of-season run, start as slight favourites.
But Totori, Alick Maemae and captain Ian Robinson will be ready for the game of their season and ready to make life difficult for a team that has lost only twice this season.
