The phrase ‘don’t hand over the day job’ could also be cruelly plaguing Auckland Metropolis’s interim coach Ivan Vicelich and his gamers tonight. The semi-pro New Zealand crew had been ruthlessly swept apart 10-0 by Bayern Munich of their FIFA Membership World Cup opener in Cincinnati tonight.
In what can solely be described as a one-sided contest, the German champions had been 6-0 up by half-time. Kingsley Coman’s sixth-minute header received the ball rolling earlier than Sacha Boey, Thomas Muller, Coman once more, and a brace for Michael Olise rendered the sport throughout by the break. The rout continued within the second half as Jamal Musiala got here off the bench to attain a hat-trick and Muller scored once more to make it double figures.
The one comfort to Vicelich and his crew was that they managed to close out England captain Harry Kane. Nonetheless, to rub salt into their wounds, the previous All Whites worldwide has taken a monetary hit to journey to America.
In his pre-match press convention, he admitted his employer hadn’t given him any particular dispensation to take his facet to the match, saying: “I’ve all the time received to do a mixture of annual depart and depart with out pay.
“I’ll be struggling a bit with the lease and payments and stuff like that. However to play towards Bayern and Benfica and Boca Juniors (their group opponents), it’s 100 per cent value it.”
Membership keeper Conor Tracey, who works in a warehouse for a pharmaceutical firm in New Zealand, was additionally practical together with his pre-match phrases. He mentioned: “The problem is to compete in addition to we are able to towards them. We’re no fools. We all know what we’re up towards.”
Auckland compete within the Northern League of their nationwide system. They’ve been allotted the one Oceania spot granted for the match, having gained the OFC Champions League for the final 4 seasons.
They subsequent play Benfica in Orlando on Friday, earlier than a ultimate group sport with Boca Juniors in Nashville 4 days later. By then, Vicelich and his gamers would possibly simply be longing to get again to work.