Nando Pijnaker of Auckland FC Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Auckland FC players are physically fitter and mentally sharper than many have ever been in their careers ahead of the A-League semi-finals.
For many players in the Auckland squad, finals football is not something they have played a lot of and coach Steve Corica, who has played and coached in the A-League playoffs, knows nerves could be a factor when they kick-off their home and away semi-finals series against Melbourne Victory on Saturday.
Corica has a winning mindset that he has not backed away from all season and he will not change for it the club's next challenge.
"I don't like going in just for a draw, for instance. That's not my mindset. My mindset is always to win every game."
To help the players have the same level of confidence as Corica, they have been working with a mindset coach all season.
Defender Nando Pijnaker has never played finals football like he will over the next few weekends. He said the mindset coach has helped him, and the rest of the team, refocus after winning the Premiers Plate and turn their attention to what they will need to do next to win more silverware.
"We've been speaking a lot with him to kind of get back grounded. Everything resets in these games back to zero. We have to make sure that we turn up for both the games and we're obviously going to be very positive and confident going into them, but we really want to win the games."
Auckland FC's Louis Verstraete and Melbourne Victory's Kasey Bos. Photo: Shane Wenzlick / www.photosport.nz
For Belgian midfielder Louis Verstraete this is the second time in his professional career, that spans nearly a decade, that he is playing in a team that can win trophies.
Verstraete played for three different clubs in Belgium before joining Auckland and has never worked with a mental skills coach in the capacity that he has this season.
"We do it a bit more often than in my previous teams. This always helps to reflect and to let go of the highs when we won it, and then to come back to neutral and work again, so that has been beneficial for me as well."
Hard preseason
The mental strength work runs alongside a "challenging" physical training programme.
Even before a ball was in kicked competition this season, Auckland FC vice-captain Tommy Smith declared "the preseason was the hardest I've ever had across my career".
Smith, who had previously played in England and America, credited the club's head of performance and medical Elias Boukarim and his staff for how fit the squad were going into the first season.
Tommy Smith of Auckland FC. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
The team's fitness and attitude was said to be behind their ability to score goals very late in games, and to keep the longest unbeaten streak (14 games) of any side this season.
Corica was asked several times near the back end of the regular season if his side still had "gas in the tank". He believed they did.
Auckland had one major long-term injury this season, defender Dan Hall broke his ankle in training in December and was sidelined for months but has come back into the starting side.
Heading into the semi-finals Corica said intensity had stepped up at training and, with what he said was a fully fit squad ahead of Saturday's game, he had a few tough decisions to make.
"Going into the finals everyone wants to play, it's a time of year that everyone wants to be involved in."
He said players' contributions in games throughout the season, on the training pitch, and having players who could make an impact off the bench would factor into his game day squad.
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