Sports Auckland 2024 A-League Team

[defensivebomb]

Amazing context.
I've heard in many interviews Corica and Becker say something along the lines of "When Sakai fell in our laps" or "When Sakai's came across our desk, we just had to sign him". And I always wondered what they had meant by that. This makes perfect sense.

Did he happen to mention why he was specifically looking to come to New Zealand?

I can’t quite recall specifics, but it sounded just like he wanted to spend some time away from it all, but in a nice place

Interestingly, one of the other things he said was that Sakai was surprised to turn up to a few trainings, and they were doing heaps of running fitness. But not much skills work. To the point where he had to say something to the coaching staff to get them to do skills work. Think he was used to environments where having fitness is a basic professional expectation. Like, training isn’t to get fit

 

[CWC]

I can’t quite recall specifics, but it sounded just like he wanted to spend some time away from it all, but in a nice place

Interestingly, one of the other things he said was that Sakai was surprised to turn up to a few trainings, and they were doing heaps of running fitness. But not much skills work. To the point where he had to say something to the coaching staff to get them to do skills work. Think he was used to environments where having fitness is a basic professional expectation. Like, training isn’t to get fit

Explains why his national team is so silky

 

[Beastmode]

I can’t quite recall specifics, but it sounded just like he wanted to spend some time away from it all, but in a nice place

Interestingly, one of the other things he said was that Sakai was surprised to turn up to a few trainings, and they were doing heaps of running fitness. But not much skills work. To the point where he had to say something to the coaching staff to get them to do skills work. Think he was used to environments where having fitness is a basic professional expectation. Like, training isn’t to get fit

I often wonder how much time our guys spend in the gym vs skills, especially those that still can’t catch a bomb or kick a drop goal … you would think if this was drilled into your head on a daily basis it becomes bread and butter….

 

[CWC]

I often wonder how much time our guys spend in the gym vs skills, especially those that still can’t catch a bomb or kick a drop goal … you would think if this was drilled into your head on a daily basis it becomes bread and butter….

When I was in my country of origin we have some kids going to Japan to play pro baseball and they practice like 100+ pitches daily, some get injured from that and return home

So it was a shock when I hear Dan Carter talk about him practicing a dozen goal kicks at training I was expecting at least 50 to cover all angles, but then again his groin probably wouldn't hold up (2011 world cup)

 

[Playdaball]

An amazing season both on and off the field !
I do get confused when the warriors announce a sell crowd c.22,000but the Akld FC manage to get c. 26000