This year may have been Auckland City FC's first experience with the FIFA Club World Cup, but they're hoping that it won't be their last. I spoke to some of the players and coaches after their final game, and they all agreed that they had really enjoyed the tournament.

Midfielder Paul Seaman felt that the team had played better in their game against Jeonbuk than in the first match against Al Ahly, and they were unfortunate not to have scored at least once. "The luck went against us," he said. "We gave up two easy goals. We need to organize better at the back."

Still, he was happy with the team's performance overall, after the effort that they had put in leading up to the tournament. "We worked hard to prepare, but there were some things that were out of our control, like changing coaches."

One thing that was in his control was that missed chance 10 minutes into the second half, and Seaman was still kicking himself about it after the game. "I couldn't believe I missed that!" he said. "It would have been easier to have scored than missed. I just took my eye off the ball."

Seaman is a youth football coach when he's not playing, and he said that was exactly the sort of thing he'd tell his players not to do. Unfortunately, though, he won't get a chance to pick up any coaching tips from watching the final between Barcelona and Internacional on Sunday, because the Auckland team was flying home on Sunday -- back to their day jobs, presumably.

Assistant coach Paul Marshall said that with Australia moving to the Asian Football Confederation, leaving an easier path to the Club World Cup for the other teams in Oceania, it will have an impact on football not just in New Zealand but in other countries as well.

"Developing nations see that they've got an opportunity to compete on this stage, and it's the second biggest tournament in the world," Marshall said. "It's a great initiative by FIFA."

The team is hoping to come back to the tournament next year, but they expect to face some stiff competition from the other teams in the New Zealand league. "There are one or two teams that we know will be trying to qualify," Marshall said.

It's possible that they could try to strengthen the team by signing more players like former Japanese international Teruo Iwamoto, who's been a big hit with the fans here.

Assistant coach Craig Alexander praised Iwamoto's contribution to the team. "Teru brings assurity and calmness to our game. He allows the team to play better possession football, because he's got such a range of passing. We try to take the sting out of the game, so that he can present what he can do."

Alexander echoed Seaman and Marshall in the hope that Auckland will be returning to the Club World Cup next year. "We may be amateurs," he said. "But we're also quick learners."

So far, the World Club Cup has gone exactly the way you would have expected. All the higher-ranked teams have beaten their opponents, and it's going to be the favourites Barcelona and Internacional in the final, while Auckland and Jeonbuk duke it out for fifth place tonight.

I'm sure that's good news for the marketing and ticket people, who want to see the big names go as far as possible, but for a neutral observer, it's a little bit disappointing. How great would it have been to see one of the heavy hitters stumble, or the minnows pull out a win? It's the unpredicability of football that makes it great, after all.

One game down, six games to go. Our other bloggers have already done a great job of covering what happened in the game between Auckland City and Al Ahly, so instead, some of the things that have stood out for me so far...

Best post-game comment:
"For a small man, he's quite good in the air." -- Auckland coach Allan Jones on Al Ahly's Flavio. (You can all tick off that square on your Press Conference Bingo card now.)

Best nickname:
Jeonbuk's S. J. Jung, who is apparently known as the "eye of the typhoon."

Best backhanded compliment:
"Former substitute grabbed a regular starting role when the team was beset by injury. Contributes to the defence." -- from the media guide profile of Internacional's Wellington Monteiro

Best hair (day 1):
Auckland fullback Jason Hayne, who looks like he dipped a hedgehog in a vat of peroxide and then stuck it on his head. (Look him up on Google images if you don't believe me.)

You'll notice that I didn't mention the actual game there as one of the highlights. That's because it...wasn't. Auckland certainly gave it a go, but they were what one usually refers to as "limited," and Al Ahly seemed to play down to their level. It was 90 minutes of back-and-forth in the middle of the pitch, because as soon as either side got near the other team's penalty area, they seemed to forget how to play football. Either that, or the player with the ball would beat a couple of defenders, have a sudden rush of blood to the head and then try a back-heel to nobody. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I'm hoping for a better standard of play from tonight's game between Jeonbuk Motors and Club America. Or failing that, that we get to the media centre before they're all out of Coke again.