Emblen ruled down but not out

Waitakere United’s Neil Emblen is facing another couple of weeks on the sideline at the start of a busy campaign with the NZFC, O-League and World Club Cup competitions looming large for the West Aucklanders.

Emblen’s ankle injury picked up against AS Manu Ura has been slow to respond to treatment, keeping the defender out of this weekend’s trip to Christchurch.

The player coach at Waitakere is exploring every option but has for now resigned himself to sitting out the next couple of weeks of the season.

“From the moment I picked up the injury I have been doing everything right to speed the recovery process. Initially the prognosis was not too bad, but it has been a little slower than we would have liked to come right.

“I have even spent time in an oxygen tent this week to further speed the healing. I must admit to not having ever done this before but the medical team says it can help and I’m prepared to do anything to get back on the park sooner rather than later.”

Emblen’s experience at the top level would be sorely missed by Waitakere but the former English Premiership defender is wary of ignoring the long term for the sake of a ‘quick fix’.

“I must be careful to look after my long term health beyond my playing days as well as looking ahead to a busy campaign this summer. We have an NZFC title to win and an O-League title to defend; I must not lose sight of those goals for the sake of rushing back now.”

Emblen has the added responsibility of taking the coaching reigns this week in the absence of Manager Chris Milicich. Milicich is in Japan scouting possible FIFA World Club Cup opponents as Urawa Reds (Japan) play Sepahan (Iran) in the second leg of the Asian Champions League final.

Should Urawa win the match (it is level 1-1 after the first leg) and earn direct qualification to the World Club Cup then Waitakere will play Sepahan in Japan in early December for a place in the draw proper. If Sepahan win then Waitakere will play the J League champions with that opponent not likely to be known until the eve of the match in Japan, although Urawa currently lead the table by five points.

For now Emblen is concentrating on those coaching duties and has not been included in the 16 to play Canterbury on Sunday in a squad that is unchanged from last weekend’s win over Waikato.


Waitakere United v Canterbury United

English Park, Christchurch

Sunday 18th November

2pm KO

Squad of 16 (list in chronological order): 1 Richard Gillespie, 2 Jonathan Perry, 3 Shane Pascoe, 4 Matt Cuneen, 5 Danny Hay (c), 6 Darren Bazeley, 7 Jason Hayne, 9 Benjamin Totori, 10 Allan Pearce, 13 Daniel Koprivcic, 15 Chris Bale, 17 Jake Butler, 22 Simon Eaddy, 11 Neil Sykes, 33 Paul Seaman, 8 Commins Menapi

Changes from last game: Unchanged

Injuries (type of injury): Neil Emblen (ankle)

Suspensions:

Coach/captain comments:

Neil Emblen: “It was a much better performance on Sunday against Waikato in all but one area, finishing. This week we have worked a great deal on finishing and being clinical in the box, which was about all that was missing on Sunday, making the result closer than it really should have been.

Both Chris and I were happy with the lift in overall performance albeit in this league you want to put teams away and not leave anything to chance at one nil, and there were a couple of scary moments near the end.

We have had a look at Canterbury and know what they will bring to the match. They had a hard fought local derby last week so will be up for this. Our game plan won’t change a great deal and we are sure they won’t either.”