Auckland City: have made some new signings since the Club World Cup, while their squad has not been significantly weakened with only Emiliano Tade and Tim Payne having moved on.
In fact, they are arguably stronger than in the Club World Cup with the injured Portuguese striker João Moreira and the Korean Daewook Kim now back, plus several new signings:
João Moreira:
Has one of the best pedigrees of any foreign player to grace our national league.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_Moreira
Striker
Aged 29
Former Portugal u-20 and u-21 international (33 caps)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_UEFA_European_Un...
Played for Portugal u-21 in the 2007 UEFA u-21 Finals in the Netherlands with Nani, Hugo Almeida, Joao Moutinho, Ricardo Vaz Te etc.
Tournament doubled as UEFA qualifying tournament for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Moreira even played in the play-off vs. Italy to decide Europe's fifth qualifier for the 2008 Beijing Olympics (lost on penalties):
http://www.uefa.com/under21/season=2007/matches/ro...
He replaced Ricardo Vaz Te on 70 mins of the play-off:
http://www.uefa.com/under21/season=2007/matches/ro...
His Clubs: included Valencia, Rayo Vallecano (la Liga reserve sides; one appearance Rayo Vallecano in la Liga)
Estrela Amadora, Nacional (Portuguese Primeira Liga)
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Iván Carril
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iv%C3%A1n_Carril
Spanish midfielder
Age 30
Barcelona youth product
Deportivo la Coruna (10 apps in la Liga)
Spanish Second Division: four seasons
FC Ried (Austrian Bundesliga - first tier - 61 apps; three seasons 2010 -13)
11 apps this season for Hospitalet, one of the top third tier sides in Spain
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Óscar García Guerrero
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Garc%C3%AD...
From Spain
Striker, age 26
Malaga youth product
2006-10: 102 apps for Malaga B
Has mostly played in the Spanish Third Div. and Kazakhstan
Comes to Auckland after two seasons in the Norwegian third tier, most recently with Moss FK
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PLUS KIWI SIGNINGS:
Former U-20 internationals Colin Murphy – formerly with Fort Lauderdale Strikers – and Anthony Hobbs have joined the club along with WaiBOP United goalkeeper Danyon Drake.