Auckland crash out of Club World Cup
The New Zealand outfit fell short in their one and only match of the tournament.
As has become customary, the Oceania representative only gets one game in the FIFA Club World Cup. This time was, sadly, no different.
Al Ahly of Egypt were too strong for the Kiwi team. But the navy blues held on for a long time, with the first goal coming in the final minutes of added time in the first half.
Hussein Elshahat put the Egyptians in front as the teams were almost on their way down into the dressing rooms in the stadium in Tangier, Morocco.
In the second half it took Mohamed Sherif 11 minutes to extend the Egyptians lead, while Percy Tau put the game to bed in the 86th minute.
That means that Oceania will have to wait another year to have another go at winning the Club World Cup.
No surprise there. We don’t have the money to pay for professional players of a high level. Understandable especially as soccer is not a first tier sport. Good luck to the Egypt outfit, may they go far.
Auckland City FC’s main problem is that it has no rival in Oceania or New Zealand. I would love to see Wellington Phoenix play in the NZL league and the OFC Champions League but that will probably never happen.