Extraordinary year for Vicelich

Words: Tony Smith

Saturday 20 November 2010

All Whites veteran Ivan Vicelich says there is "a small chance" he might return to the Chinese Super League, but his main goal is to get Auckland City back to the Club World Cup finals.

The 34-year-old will captain Auckland City tomorrow against Canterbury United at Linfield Park in Christchurch.

Vicelich could be forgiven if he found the ASB premiership an anti-climax after a stellar year in his long career. By any sportsman's standards, he has had a fabulous 14 months or so.

His surreal journey began in October 2009 when he came out of a shortlived international retirement to plug a gap at centre back as the All Whites secured a scoreless draw in Bahrain in the first leg of the World Cup playoffs series against Asia's fifth-ranked team.

He also excelled alongside captain Ryan Nelsen in New Zealand's 1-0 win in Wellington in November to clinch a place in the World Cup finals.

A month later, he led Auckland City to fifth place at the Club World Cup finals in Abu Dhabi after wins over host club Al-Ahli and African champions TP Mazembe, the Congolese club that lost the 2010 Club World Cup final to Italian giants Inter Milan.

Vicelich won Oceania's player of the year award in 2009 and was a regular starter for the All Whites on the road to the 2010 World Cup finals. With vice-captain Tim Brown sidelined after shoulder surgery, Vicelich was asked to play alongside Simon Elliott in central midfield and the seasoned duo starred as the All Whites drew with Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay to leave South Africa as the only unbeaten team at the World Cup.

Vicelich and All Whites striker Chris Killen then signed for Chinese Super League club Shenzhen Ruby – Killen on a two-year contract and Vicelich on a five-month deal that expired at the end of the season.

The much-travelled former Dutch first-division player returned home to play the last two pre-Christmas games for Auckland City and to pick up the supreme award as sportsperson of the year at Sport Auckland's pre-Christmas annual awards, where Auckland City scooped club of the year.

From playing before near-capacity crowds in South Africa and China, Vicelich will be performing in front of a few hundred in Christchurch, but says he is happy to be home.

"It's exciting to get back for the second half of the season."

Having had a taste of the Club World Cup finals, he is anxious for another.

"We had an incredible time there [in 2009], winning a couple of games and doing something really special for the club and New Zealand football. Unfortunately, we missed that chance last year ... We'll be doing all we can to get back there again."

Vicelich said Auckland have had "a lot of personnel changes in the team" and it had "taken time to gel", but they had shown their potential with convincing wins in the last couple of games, including a 5-0 rout of Hawke's Bay United.

A New Zealand-born player of Croatian descent, Vicelich has a strong affinity with Auckland City, which enjoys significant support from the Croatian community.

He accepted a short-term deal with Shenzhen because of his loyalty to Auckland. But he enjoyed his experience in China and would not rule out returning. Shenzhen – a modern city of nine million people in southern Guandong province – is located north of Hong Kong.

"It was extraordinarily hot over there," Vicelich said. "The games were played at midday and the humidity was really high.

"But I enjoyed experiencing a different culture and enjoyed playing with the team.

"It was great having Chris Killen on the team. It was like a prolonged All Whites tour, having someone there with you. Chris had a great year, scoring eight goals in 12 or 13 games. He really did well as a striker over there."

Vicelich played solidly at centre back and said the Shenzhen stint started well, but the team faded to finish 12th in the 16-team Super League. Shandong Luneng – the club that signed All Whites striker Shane Smeltz, only for him to return to the Gold Coast (and eventually move on to Turkish club Genclerbirligi) – won the Chinese championship.

After 15 years on the world football circuit, a record 69 full internationals and seven seasons in the Dutch top division, Vicelich is well placed to judge football standards in China. He said the league was "pretty good", with quality players who were "very fit and had good technique".

"They've got 1.4 billion people, so I was a bit surprised they're not a bit better on the international front.

"The tempo of games was sometimes a bit up and down in the extreme heat, but each team is allowed three foreigners and one Asian foreigner as well, so there's a good mix of players.

"The teams aren't overrun by foreigners, like some leagues around the world. The clubs have got to develop the Chinese player and all the goalkeepers have to be Chinese."

Vicelich felt the Chinese league was at a similar stage of development to Japan's J-League 10 years ago, which benefited from an influx of older ex-international players from Brazil.