Waitakere United too strong for selection

Waitakere United Football Club proved on Saturday exactly why they are the New Zealand soccer champions by knocking down the Cook Islands invitational selection by 8 goals to 1.

In front of a respectable crowd at the CIFA complex, it took Waitakere 20 minutes to find a gap in the Cook Islands defence and scored their first goal through their striker Chris Bale.

Two minutes later Campbell Best for the Cook Islands team squared the ball in for striker Joseph Ngauora who missed a goal scoring opportunity with only the goal keeper to beat.

The match was evenly played up until the 38th minute after Cook Islands defender Alan Boerem who plays for Waitakeres reserve team in New Zealand was badly injured and this is when Waitakere hammered home 3 unanswered goals in a span of 7 minutes to extend their lead to 4-0 at half time.

Early in the second half Campbell Best for the Cook Islands invitational side latched on to a Nathan Tisam pass and scored his teams sole goal with a brilliant individual effort.

After finding Cook Islands weaknesses in defence, especially around the 18 yard area, Waitakere showed their class and went on to score 4 more unanswered goals to win the match convincingly against the Cook Islands invitational side 8-1.

The star of the match will have to be Waitakeres mid-field Jordan Vale who scored a hat trick for his team.

All in all it was generally a good match with Waitakere showing what professional football is all about, constantly moving the ball quickly in difficult situations.

The Waitakere team consisted of 8 players who have played for the All Whites at age group level and at full international level.

In the curtain raiser match of the day, the womens national team defeated the under 16 boys youth selection in a close and exciting match by 2-0 with Linade Unuka scoring both of the womens goals in the first half.