Auckland City FC - Thanks a Trillion

I agree but this is NZ Football that makes the selection, so anything is possible

Good performances that don't get results have been the hall mark of NZ teams on the international stage in recent times

really?  i would say gutsy performances not good performances.  We need to change our game style if we are going to progress as a football nation.  Ramon would do that I believe.

I dont know how long Ramon has to go on proving he produces teams which play quality football of a standard capable of being competitive on the world stage before NZF notice but it would be lovely if someone at NZF turned the lights on. Give him the AW job now.

My hat is off to Ramon. He played 3 Kiwis today and still looked ok.

3 kiwis?

mccowatt, howieson, white, tavano, de vries plus a few more who may or may not now be technically classed as kiwis

after watching ACFC play a nice free flowing passing style of football, against a seriously decent pro side from the seriously decent league and totally dominating...

...it's makes me (even more) furious at the crap football served up by that cod hudson for the AWs

he went to school in auckland. i think he is a new zealander as well as mexico and italy, but i'm not 100% on this

Been here since age 12.

Been first selection in midfield for Ramon since season's start. Seems to me he's been playing pretty much like this every game.

I don't undestand this hate of Ramon for using foreigners, he's exploiting the rules to get the most competitive team he can. Blame NZF for making those rules.

Yeah. He's got too much faith in the power of his shooting. That goalie had safe hands.

I agree. I assume the rules were so liberal in order to raise the standard of the league, but I think a reduction in imports is overdue. I mean, how many more McCowatt's are there out there who are missing out on this exposure?

Parker-Price would have had a good chance of game time if he hadn't been crocked in training. Probably ahead of Tavano. Morgan's a Kiwi.

I don't disagree that Ramon is a good shout for AW coach but I think there are a couple of things against him

1: NZF - they don't treat anyone well and Ramon is known for his way or the highway. How does that work.

2: He does set his teams up well but teams have figured him out a little more and he never has a plan B. Granted his plan A is pretty good but a good coach also has a plan B in case you get a day when plan A fails. Ramon is not flexible like that.

The above does not detract from the fact that he has earned 1st crack at it out of anyone based in NZ

if we were talking about a premiership game fine - but there are not any squad restriction rules at a CWC are there?  so he could have played entirely with foreigners, so every Kiwi he played was a bonus.

I believe he is a good enough coach that he would improve some of the young kiwi's in the All Whites.

thats just not true - 2015 Grand Final against Hawke's Bay United, 1st 20 minutes Hawkes Bay United were on top had gone 1-0 up and were dominating the middle third and stopping Auckland from playing. Ramon got Iwata and Bilen to slightly alter their positions and all of a sudden Auckland were back on top and won the game 2-1

Team Wellington thought they had Ramon and ACFC pretty sussed after the NL grand Final last season only for Ramon to come up with a plan B that saw them win the Oceania Champions League 5-0 on agg

You're not talking about the Auckland City Ultras are you? Because no one actually takes them seriously. 

He's just making the most of the resources available to him and the restrictions he faces. I don't get why that should be held against him

Plus the majority of them have been here for more than 4 or 5 years (I think everyone except Lea'alafa and Zubikarai, maybe Bilen), so while they technically count as foreigners they're more part of the NZ footballing landscape now

good point

bilen's been here for yonks

zubirakai and lealafa are in their second seasons

Haha sorry, got mixed up with Djordevic who's been here since 2014 (apparently he's been on loan from a Serbian team all this time). Kim Dae Wook's also been here since 2014 but that's still a solid 3 years, everyone else has been here longer

Micah's in his third season!

I interviewed Ramon a couple of years back, and it was clear he was passionate about building something for football in NZ, as he felt this country had given him great opportunities etc.  He had a clear philosophy on style, and that's what he's built at City. The guys from overseas were able to contribute to that as they'd been brought up in that kind of style/football culture - but what was also incredibly clear was how much he wanted to develop Kiwi players in that style to be able to play that way.

Off the record he explained a list of Kiwi players that he/the club had approached to come and play for City (he didn't want to name them publicly to avoid any embarrasment etc), but in every case they had baulked at the training expectations and time commitment etc that he demands in the team set-up.  I'm guessing the few who've taken the chance over the years (Clayton Lewis etc) have shown the benefits of that system and approach.  But Ramon was adamant that he wanted Kiwi players, but getting them to actually commit was hugley difficult (and some of the names he mentioned, well, they'd have definitely benefitted from the move...).  So perhaps another question to mull here is over the attitude of some locals as opposed to import quotas?

But to be honest, isn't the import system historically the basis of NZ's top flight? and contirbuted massively to our national team ranks in the past??  I remember watching a lot of National League in the late 80s and there were plenty of "non-Kiwi" accents emanating from the field... is the issue nowadays that the accents are Iberian rather than British?

I seem to recall watching Ranui-Swanson play a couple of years back and the whole team could have been transplanted straight off Hackney Marshes.

Which is why he got the 3 Ole kids into the first team squad.

Remember our old friend Anthony Hudson saying the same thing about kiwi youngsters? I expect the same attack level directed at Ramon please.

For the record, I think its time NZF gave Ramon the national team job, if what he has achieved is not enough for a NZ domiciled coach to get the top job - then it will never be given to one.

As much as I rate Ramon - and I really do! - I would prefer seeing him coach a club or two in a fully professional environment before handing him the AWs.

That's not to say he won't get there one day, I just think the jump could be too big for him.

Also, AWs or not, I'd actually really like to see him coach in Australia or even in Asia. Surely at his age he'll want to take the next step soon? 

If I recall correctly Ramon's hat was in the ring for the Roar pre Aloisi appointment but owners' financial sharkfight scared him off ( or maybe that was just my interpretation).

Anyway I reckon an A league club wil come knocking soon - and it's probably time he had a new challenge too. Adelaide's Spanish love affair may be an influence but the timing isn't right. In a similar vein, what about assisting Gombau at the Wanderers?  Would love to see him coach in a real pro league  

Al Jazira through to the semis after scraping another lucky win - 35% possession, half Urawa’s shot count, 2 shots on target, and many guilt-edged chances thrown away by Urawa including a one yard tap in. Seem familiar? Shows just how well we played imo, another day and we’d be the ones playing Real Madrid

The line between foreigners and locals is often somewhat blurred too.

As shown by the discussion on here in recent pages over which ACFC players are actually locals.

White,Tavano and de Vries were born overseas but moved here with their parents as kids.

All are clearly committed to living in NZ - White and Tavano have had brief spells playing overseas but have played nearly all their senior football in NZ.

So ACFC had five NZers starting.

About half of Auckland's population was born overseas according to census figures so a lot of players are going to be foreign-born.

Another factor is that ACFC didn't actively recruit some of their foreign players - Tade and Riera turned up as backpackers.

A few of Canterbury United's foreign players have turned up without being recruited too such as young right-back George King who has immigrated here with his parents to work on the rebuild (just fortuitous that he's a former Manchester City reserve team player).

With the earthquake rebuild, an increased number of Christchurch's citizens are foreign-born too.

I have a whole house of young South Americans up the road from me and a young French couple who bought a pretty rough house because it was cheap. The Eastern suburbs of Christchurch are becoming increasingly diverse on top of the long-term Pasifika community (Bill Tuiloma spent some of his childhood living in my area before moving back to South Auckland). Cameron Howieson moved here to Christchurch from Dunedin as a kid with his Scottish father and Samoan mother.

It's fun taking the promenade along Sumner beach these days - always bump into heaps of South Americans there and at the Beach Bar and café on the sand.

Al-Jazira downed 2-1 by Real Madrid - Bale scoring a late winner to save them from embarrassment. Could have been us...

Youth team win the National Youth League following a 5-2 win over Tasman at Kiwitea Street. Canterbury can level on points tomorrow but head to head the key tie breaker and ACFC won the game between the two 4-2. 

sounds great! who are the guys to look out for in the team? hoping Wilkins can step up to replace Iwata in a few seasons. got a few mates in the team, hope they're doing well!

Youth league will always be a staged winner while only one round and teams play dull draws. 

Not a development tool and not enough to show case the kids talent. imho 

City were pretty poor today, nevertheless a 3-1 win. Ref was a little biased towards us to say the least, we got lucky with tons of calls. Vicelich playing some negative football in Ramon’s absence. Jesus christ Callan Elliott and Marowa were impressive

Missed the game today, sounded like a good turn out from what I could hear though. We line up with the standard team or leave some players out?

Any idea where Ramon was?

He's in Spain, 'personal reasons'.

I saw the first half, can't really say City played any differently to normal - maybe they were more negative second half once ahead? I'd headed out west.

No Tade in the squad, so Lea'alafa in the front three and Hudson-Wihongi at CB beside Berlanga the only changes of note.

Sure were, but it worked out in the end. Turned into a bit of long ball from Berlanga and Zubikarai, guys like Micah and Howieson had a noticeable drop in quality. Penalty decision was pretty questionable since the guy who gave it away was on the floor already and Tavano ran into him. Agree first half play was pretty decent but Tasman held their own.