25 Apr 2012

Auckland FC under pressure before opening O league game

11:01 am on 25 April 2012

Tahitian football side Tefana will make their first appearance in the O-League final this Sunday when it visits Auckland FC for the first leg of the two gfame series.

For both sides the lure of the FIFA club world cup in Japan later in the year is the big incentive for success.

Auckland FC topped the points table in New Zealand's national league, unbeaten in 14 games, but was stunned with two losses in the two leg semi final by Team Wellington.

Auckland FC coach Ramon Tribulietx says his side coudn't live with the pressure of play off football.

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We're still half way through the process of getting everyone confident at doing the same thing even in big games. Thats probably one of the things wich affected us. But when you look at the games, we created as many chances as we have all year but that extra bit of pressure of having to play a semi final... we paid the price.