Absolutely magic result at the FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates overnight. NZFC side Auckland City has rolled out 2-0 winners over hometown heroes Al-Ahli.
Hot on the heels of the All White's WC qualification, this inaugural win at the Club World Cup is another shot in the arm for the local game, netting Auckland City a cool $1 million pay out and earning them a crack at Mexican champs Atlante.
(It is not necesarily good news for Team Wellington's bid to trim back the Auckland club football hegemony however-but I digress)
What I particularly like about this win was that, on the highlights at least, it didn't seem like an ugly, backs to the wall, last minute scramble type of win.
A class cross and tidy finish by Adam Dickinson at the end of the first half, followed by a wonder strike by Chad Coombes that would be at home in a Christiano Ronaldo highlights reel means that ACFC won with a certain amount of class- something that NZ teams have been criticised as lacking in the past.
But play of the match for me was not the Coombes' goal itself, rather fellow scorer Dickinson's instinctive duck under Coombes' cannonball, seen at 55 secs on the following video. The shot was heading straight for him and he reacted smartly to avoid it. I think the appropriate headline is:
Dickinson's Duck Saves Auckland's Golden Goose!
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