Amateur soccer players with regular full-time jobs prepare to take on elite talent at FIFA Club World Cup

Imagine taking your daily job to travel to the United States and leave Harry Kane and Bayern Munich in the FIFA Club World Cup. For Auckland City FC, an amateur team from New -Zeeland, that is their reality because their players balance unique conditions to be the only amateur side participating this summer.

It is not strangers for this competition that Oceania have dominated and won the OFC Men’s Champions League 13 times to be the most successful team in the region, but the expansion of the CWC prior to this year’s tournament in the United States gives them the opportunity to make something special happen. This does not happen without a well -drilled list of players playing for each other, but as their sports director Gordon Watson said, this is a family and a close one.

“The feeling of reaching the stage where we can compete at this level is getting better and better every time we win the O -competition or a competition for me. It is a pretty big feeling because it is a highlight of all the hard work that the players and the team [have] Not only brought in for this year, but in the last four years, in the last 10 years. I go to work, I work a week of 40 hours, I train, I have to go through traffic for an hour and a half to two hours, just to train, “Keeper Conor Tracey said.” I train for about two hours, sometimes I am late, so it can only take an hour, but I miss a lot of my personal time because of this football. “

For American football fans, an equivalent would be if the des Moines is threatening, who conquered the US Open Cup StormenderWon the Concacaf Champions League and qualified for the club World Cup. Being at this tournament alone is an important achievement for Auckland City FC, but it is one that may not have started until they have played their matches and returned home. Posted in Group C next to Bayern Munich, Benfica and Boca Juniors, even getting a point would be an achievement for Auckland, but you come to these tournaments to complete the best players in the world, and they will do exactly.

But even to get to this point, the balance that is needed to achieve this phase is something impressive, from which the dedication that every player has to the club is shown. Even when chatting to put this together, Tracey had to leave the interview early to prevent him from going on his lunch break to get back to work on time.

“The leisure time I have is not much, especially this weekend, I have work on Sunday, exactly as an example. Even with work my work cuts in much of my own time and football time. Everyone has grown in my personal time and at the weekend at the weekend, I will try to see my girlfriend,” Tracey said. “I will probably get an hour with her before I have to go to bed, and in the morning I have about two hours to get a coffee with her before I have to prepare myself for the game. All those little moments you try to organize in the week before, so before you even come to Friday, your whole weekend has been taken with a whole schedule.”

“Elk moment is zeer gekoesterd. We krijgen niet veel tijd, ik krijg niet veel tijd, maar om er weer een keuze in te maken … Dat is wat ons scheidt als een team van iedereen, omdat iedereen in ons team die keuze heeft om te doen wat we doen wat het normale leven kan leven, het normale leven, of je kunt nog steeds hard leven, het normale leven, het normale leven, het normale leven, het normale leven, het normale leven, het normale leven, of je kunt het normale leven nog steeds But they don’t have the 16-18 hours of football a week on top of a 40-hour working week. “

As the only amateur club in this tournament, there is a unique perspective that brings Auckland City FC to this tournament, and it is a very recognizable because people in the stands can understand these choices between professional and personal efforts. Everyone has something they strive for, and sometimes to achieve goals, it can come up with sacrifices.

Jordan Vale immediately works his daily job as a teacher at the Te Atatū Intermediate School. Football is not the dominant sport in New Zealand, with rugby that leads the lead, making it even more impressive, the sacrifices that these players make to play in this tournament.

With the club World Cup that took place in the United States, Auckland City players had to find a balance between the free time to work to make this trip, and Vale even considered stopping his work to make things work, but was able to do a replacement role to offer more flexibility for his football obligations instead. Even staffing, personal circumstances will prevent head coach Paul Rosa from going to the United States with the team for the first phase of the tournament, where the Navy Blues are led by a group of Adria Casals, Ivan Vicelich, Daewook Kim and Jonas Hoffmann.

“When I came this season, at the end of last year, and it had done it for about six years, I became a little exhausted mentally, my workload plus football, those sacrifices were a bit caught up,” said Vale. “Our season, if you take the preseason, will go from January to December, so we only get three or four weeks off until we are back in the preseason, so I got overworked in my position and I tried to think, how am I going to juggle and work this year?

“So what I had decided to make a decent sacrifice and try to be a reliever (replacement). And I did that and resigned last year. My director, however, came to me a few days later and said: we don’t want to lose you, we are not happy with those times [that will be needed off] For the World Cup Club and I have this flexible [position] … what a huge deloading has been at work where I have been able to find more precious times, a little more free time, and mentally has enabled me to revise football and still give 100% in my work. “

That prioritization is not for everyone, but when playing for this team, which is so close, many players would do this, although it means that a lot of unpaid leave is needed for work. When Auckland is looking for a competitive team and at the same time find players who are willing to shake their schedules to make things like this tournament, it reduces the pool of available players, but when Watson wants to build a successful team, having strong characters such as Vale and goalkeeper Tracey in the team is absolutely critical. Players will even change jobs to ensure that they can get the free time needed for a demanding football season, which shows the dedication that every player has to the Navy Blues.

“There are difficult choices. When I hear them make these decisions, there is a parental part of me that reads:” Oh my God, don’t do that. ” I did it and it is not fun, as if it is difficult, but again, it is a choice, and if you think about your own life as a middle -aged man … it brings all the sacrifice back, the heartache, the disappointment, “Watson said. “There is no guarantee that you will be picked. You can be grumpy around your family or grumpy around your girlfriend, because that is not going well. Plus, you do your work. You only get one shot in life, one shot, a clubworld cup, one game with Bayern Munich, one game with Benfica, but I think it is a very personal choice.”

These are games that Auckland will see playing for a huge audience, and it can also give some of these players a chance to settle in a fully professional football competition while the club returns to the competition, enthusiastic to participate in the first with 32 teams.

There is a worn path of switching from Auckland City FC in New Zealand to teams in the Australians, a competition, But good versions in this tournament can ultimately be life -changing. Even if the results would not go as Auckland would like, there are still many opportunities for memorable once-in-a-lifetime moments, such as what helps to create football waves at Vale’s school.

“At the beginning of this year I really wanted to encourage children who play football at our school, and I think we have been quite successful. We may have 100 guys to sign up for trials, and we had around 80 girls signed up, so it was actually very success [Karim] Benzema. I think there are a few [me] shake his hand or see him [the game]So a student had come to me and he had pulled us together because he loved Benzema, and he continued to interrogate me over time, and he discovered that you are randomly tested drugs at the end of the game and so my name was drawn. “

Although usually players do not want to go to those drug tests because they can take hours, this was one that would have a pretty impact on Vale.

“I walked into the room and there were Benzema and Fabinho, who were also randomly selected,” said Vale. “So we had to sit in this fairly tight room and just talk an hour for me and Cameron [Harper]Because we are both liverpool fans, it was really great to see Fabinho, but also Benzema. It was great, so that Kid had discovered that story and just interrogated, but now it’s about Harry Kane. “Do you want to tackle it?” “

Vale and Auckland City will soon discover the answer to that question when they take the field against Bayern Munich on 15 June to start their club world cup trip, but who knows they can be busy inspiring the next generation of the Navy Blues as football that grows in New -Zeeland. Sharing the field with Global Soccer Legends is a special experience where competing against their heroes can make them at home.