Auckland FC celebrate their Premiers Plate success. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Melbourne Victory v Auckland FC
Kickoff: Saturday 17 May, 9.35pm
AAMI Park, Melbourne
Live blog updates on RNZ Sport
Auckland FC's journey towards even more football history begins Saturday night in Melbourne.
The A-League's newest team will face Melbourne Victory in a home-and-away semi-finals series.
The team that scores the most goals across the two legs will progress to the Grand Final - a feat no New Zealand team have achieved before.
The toilet seat-shaped A-League Championship trophy is the last piece of silverware missing from Auckland's trophy cabinet and the quest to bring it across the Tasman goes through Australia's sporting capital.
As top qualifiers for the semis, the Black Knights opted to kick off the campaign in enemy territory.
They dominated Melbourne Victory this season - a draw and then a 2-0 win - and did not concede a goal against the side that finished the regular season in fifth, but Victory coach Arthur Diles has warned what happened in the regular season does not count in the post-season.
"They won the league, deservedly," he said. "They've done a fantastic job, but the league is the league and now it's finals football.
"It's a different competition and we'll make sure we're ready for that."
Victory eliminated the higher-ranked Wellington Phoenix in the semi-final stage last season, but their start to this season was quite different to Auckland's.
In December, their coach quit and was replaced by Diles. They then went winless for six games, before recording eight wins in 14 matches.
Auckland FC coach Steve Corica was impressed with how they recovered from the slow start.
"They've come to form in the right time of year really. They've got some really talented players, dribblers also, which are dangerous, but you don't want to go back to the start of the season - you're talking about the last couple of games and they've been doing really well."
Victory upset Western Sydney Wanderers in the elimination final last weekend, while Auckland took a week off, although Corica still kept his team on their toes.
"After we won the premiership, I think we needed an extra week off, just to [refocus] the boys. It's been a really good week training this week and you can see everyone's fired up, competition for places is immense and that's what you want as a coach."
With aggregate goals determining the ultimate winners, Corica will not take a defensive mindset into the first semi-final.
Nor will one Auckland's standout players this season, midfielder Louis Verstraete.
"We want to win," he said. "It's a totally different mindset, if you go somewhere and you don't want to win [play for a draw], and you're a little bit scared and you just defend.
"We want to play our normal football, we want to be aggressive and we want to go forward, so that is the plan."
Corica has decades of playoffs experience in the A-League, as a player and a coach, and he doesn't want ill-discipline to decide his team's fate.
"I've had finals before that we've had red cards - we don't want that, we need to remain focussed. Sometimes, you don't get a decision, you just need to let it go and continue.
"You can't switch off for a moment in finals - you do and you can get punished."
As the clock counts down to one of the biggest club matches of his career, defender Nando Pijnaker believed his side was ready to cause some waves with those who run the game across the Tasman.
"I'm sure that the league doesn't want an Auckland or New Zealand team to win. It's never been done before, so hopefully, we can be the first."
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