Auckland Pride - Make Auckland Great Again

Bit relieved that I don’t really seem to be feeling anything for Corica’s army. 

Interested when Paulsen, Rogerson and Sakai are involved currently. 

But yeh, not a stadium I know very well, compared to EP or the one at Albany. Don’t really know Gillion or de Vries. Yet to see anything special from the fans. 

We’ll see with a few subs on or if the 3 I mentioned do anything more. Two very involved in the first goal.

Brisbane are sharke

Like that from Rogerson. Much prefer the civil state of things where you put a heavy challenge in and then apologise as you help the player up. 

The rolling over and complaining to the ref when you’ve definitely fouled them I’ve never been keen on. 

4 headers won in 40 seconds from de Vries 

De Vries is showing he’s up to the standard on the A-League which is good to see. Could easily be on a yellow but we’ll take it.

Rogerson and Gillion both looking exciting.

Hall is solid and Sakai just looks great.

We looked nervy for the first four minutes or so but settled in quickly.

Website still broken? Where is everyone? 

Impressed with de Vries of the players I didn’t know. Everything else outside Rogerson, Sakai and Paulsen seems like a work in progress. 

loyalgunner

De Vries is showing he’s up to the standard on the A-League which is good to see. Could easily be on a yellow but we’ll take it.

Rogerson and Gillion both looking exciting.

Hall is solid and Sakai just looks great.

We looked nervy for the first four minutes or so but settled in quickly.

Impressed with May early on. He comes back and wins back and wins a lot of midfield headers for a shortish guy. Some nice passing interplay.

Great to get the 1st goal early on, that's what was needed to get the crowd on their site. Although apart from the port no one's really got involved.
Loads of misplaced passes from both sides in midfield. Might open up in the second half.

Just love that AFC's first ever goal will always be an own goal!
Can't say ive been impressed with the port, maybe their noise isnt coming through the TV mics that well. On top of that the claim that AFC is the pride of NZ and the "our team, our club, our island" byline. Already can't stand them.

Apparently match Fred over in the other matches one. Sorry!

God I just heard our PM, explain why he never played football.

Even though he wasn’t actually asked. 

I’m sure he has a different version for rugby.

Does any one believe the sharke that guy spins?

Lol, did Luxon in the halftime interview (for some reason...) refer to the port as the Auckland pride?

Occasionally the bull shark is called. 5000 members as well that pride has 

The Pride will be back in Canterbury in two years once the Knights fold

Haven't seen DeVries play since his early All Whites tenure during the Danny Hay era but he looks like he's well and truly recovered from the ACL woes that stuffed his Europe career. Definitely going to serve them well this season 

Well, there ya go for the not mixing politics and sport. C Lux’s puddock army! At least Key had Chelsea season tickets, though he kept that fairly quiet in NZ!

I’ve seen politicians attend the Nix as fans, but never grease and sleaze at half time? Not even the finals…

martinb

Well, there ya go for the not mixing politics and sport. C Lux’s puddock army! At least Key had Chelsea season tickets, though he kept that fairly quiet in NZ!

I’ve seen politicians attend the Nix as fans, but never grease and sleaze at half time? Not even the finals…

He'll be schmoozing the big wig billionaires. Build a new stadium, infrastructure, investment, take it out of government hands yada yada yada.

YoungHeartHM

martinb

Well, there ya go for the not mixing politics and sport. C Lux’s puddock army! At least Key had Chelsea season tickets, though he kept that fairly quiet in NZ!

I’ve seen politicians attend the Nix as fans, but never grease and sleaze at half time? Not even the finals…

He'll be schmoozing the big wig billionaires. Build a new stadium, infrastructure, investment, take it out of government hands yada yada yada.

That wAnchor is a perfect match for the port

YoungHeartHM

martinb

Well, there ya go for the not mixing politics and sport. C Lux’s puddock army! At least Key had Chelsea season tickets, though he kept that fairly quiet in NZ!

I’ve seen politicians attend the Nix as fans, but never grease and sleaze at half time? Not even the finals…

He'll be schmoozing the big wig billionaires. Build a new stadium, infrastructure, investment, take it out of government hands yada yada yada.

That wAnchor is a perfect match for the port

martinb

Well, there ya go for the not mixing politics and sport. C Lux’s puddock army! At least Key had Chelsea season tickets, though he kept that fairly quiet in NZ!

I’ve seen politicians attend the Nix as fans, but never grease and sleaze at half time? Not even the finals…

Weirdo comment fella

Btw

John Key Scarf.jpeg 421.75 KB

Some strong performances from players like De Vries and Gillion that will please Corica and Trump’s fanboy. Goals for Rogerson at international and club level within a matter of days.

AFC may have won their inaugural A-League match, but our legendary comeback against Victory will never be bested.

Feverish

martinb

Well, there ya go for the not mixing politics and sport. C Lux’s puddock army! At least Key had Chelsea season tickets, though he kept that fairly quiet in NZ!

I’ve seen politicians attend the Nix as fans, but never grease and sleaze at half time? Not even the finals…

Weirdo comment fella

Btw

John Key Scarf.jpeg 421.75 KB

🤷‍♂️
That’s sincerity! 

Happiness is an original retro Ricki and a Phoenix scarf!

And I’d bet his speech woulda been something on point. I wasn’t a footballer, but what a great turn out today, great day, let’s enjoy it etc etc

But that was his great quality as a politician- looking relaxed and comfortable in most situations. 

I remember long after seeing photos of him chatting with the AWs in 2010 in South Africa on the training pitch. Don’t recall it being a photo op, he was just there representing the country, having a quiet word with Reid and Nelly.

I dunno? What’s weird about it? By the expression ‘grease and sleaze’ I just meant do politics. 

I can’t recall a politician ever giving a half time or full time speech at the Nix in 17 years. It’s not a usual thing in domestic sport. It’s unusual to see this PM pop up, especially as all he did was give the feeling he didn’t want to be there. Should be on the plane to the T20 final!

Thought Gillion was busy, but still has a ways to go with decision making and composure. 

What’s unusual is he explained why he never played football but hockey with some bull shark story. Wasn’t asked but thought he had to explain himself. Full of bull shark and frankly who cares why you never played. You don’t have to explain yourself.

Anyway back to the game. De Vries excellent. loved Sakai’s passion and you can see why he is the captain. May looked classy.

Side was obviously really up for it and ran hard. If they keep that up they will be hard to break down and score against. 

Quality wise, think however they will be well below the Nix

Auckland couldn't have asked for a better debut, wouldn't be outrageous to expect at least 15k against Sydney next week

As you would expect AFC is a work in progress. It’s going to take time for the imports to gel but there is quality there. The positives are they looked very organised in defense as you would expect from a Corica side. Individually I thought Sakai and Gillion were very good. Rogerson took his goal very well. They need to work on keeping hold of the ball in midfield. Too often they lost possession by taking the wrong options.
Great for NZ football to see a big crowd and a kiwi team win on debut. Can’t wait for the Nix to kick their arse

Perfect debut, the best in the league since Western Sydney Wanderers joined. Full house, good active support, 2 goals and a win

2-0 win. 24k attendance. Top of the league.

Can’t ask for much more than that.

Did anyone get a decent look at what their Tifo was. Shame the noise never really came across very well.  Good start know to build on it.

Great first result. Good to see so many kiwis play well and be competitive.

Also trying to work out how I’ll emotionally come to terms with Sakai retiring when he eventually does. Already love the guy. Such passion and commitment. You could see what the first goal meant to him. And he’s so fit. Impressive jawline too.

ballane

Did anyone get a decent look at what their Tifo was. Shame the noise never really came across very well.  Good start know to build on it.

I was in the south stand alongside the Port and my god, everyone was so sterile. Port was absolutely brilliant and tried their damndest, had some fantastic coordinated chants, but Aucklanders will always be Aucklanders. For everyone screaming with passion there’s another JAFA treating it like it’s a round of golf

Can’t be mad though at all. Hoping this has solidified some real fans, particularly young kids who will form an attachment to NZ footy as they grow up with a local team

Rusty Dunks

Half a Pint

InsulinMachine

Does anyone know what the first game crowd numbers were for the Knights and Kingz?

Kingz first NSL match at North Harbour Stadium had a crowd of 8,200

And the Knights first home match at North Harbour stadium had a crowd of 9,827

I guarantee that 9,827 is grossly overinflated. 

Really?

I was there and managed to organise a significant number (500+) Massey Uni students to that game. NHS main was as full as the AW game last week plus the other side had fans.

I do think more people turned up for the first Kingz game then mentioned. My family sat in the open stand which was full, so was the main stand. I can still vividly remember the fireworks, Phil Collin's "In the Air Tonight" playing and Rufer, Ngata and co running out to big cheers at our first pro game of footie.

Was very impressed with the atmosphere for the first 2 minutes and for a few minutes around the own goal, but stadium was a library apart from that. Really cool the effort that went into the matchday experience, Jess B was good at half time and there was a bunch of other cool things going on. But I was surprised how apathetic I felt about Auckland as a team. Would intellectually have liked them to be my second team and really get behind all the Kiwis but I just can't, I'm phoenix til I die and I want Auckland to lose every game 

Gillion was electric and definitely didn’t look like he was making his professional debut, although his decision making isn’t quite there yet.

For NZ football’s sake here’s hoping he kicks on and eventually gets a move overseas, HIBS maybe?

YoungHeartHM

martinb

Well, there ya go for the not mixing politics and sport. C Lux’s puddock army! At least Key had Chelsea season tickets, though he kept that fairly quiet in NZ!

I’ve seen politicians attend the Nix as fans, but never grease and sleaze at half time? Not even the finals…

He'll be schmoozing the big wig billionaires. Build a new stadium, infrastructure, investment, take it out of government hands yada yada yada.

He's a schmoozer, nothing more. That's how he's ended up at the top of Air NZ the NZ Tory party (er National 😉) and NZ Govt.

Has been/is shark at all three roles. Left Air NZ a mess, and now making NZ a mess, likely National too.

Gillion is class. 

martinb

Thought Gillion was busy, but still has a ways to go with decision making and composure. 

The force is strong in this one!

I thought he was great today. A diamond in the rough. Has parts of his game to work on, especially vision in the final third, but he was my MoM.

Marto

martinb

Thought Gillion was busy, but still has a ways to go with decision making and composure. 

The force is strong in this one!

I thought Liam was great today. A diamond in the rough. Has parts of his game to work on, especially vision in the final third, but he was my MoM.

 Criminal that he's only on a scholarship deal.

The tifo said "Back For Good".

That was fun. AFC never looked in trouble. Alex P might as well have taken a book to read.

Maybe the stadium sounded like a library on TV, but from the little T-AFC corner, The Port were pretty loud with drums and trumpets. One weird note: there was someone flying a Palestine flag in The Port section. After all the pearl-clutching about what kind of communist shenanigans T-AFC might be getting up to, it seems we needn't have worried! (Quite a few other national flags too, and some blue smoke, so WTF happened to A-League rules, I dunno).

Anyway, T-AFC have decided that Liam Gillion is our special little pet and deserves his own chant. We'll see the numbers next week.

Ninja

Marto

martinb

Thought Gillion was busy, but still has a ways to go with decision making and composure. 

The force is strong in this one!

I thought Liam was great today. A diamond in the rough. Has parts of his game to work on, especially vision in the final third, but he was my MoM.

 Criminal that he's only on a scholarship deal.

Not really. If he continues to prove himself he will get a better deal.