Winger Joe Lee has made fast progress since coming through the junior and youth ranks at Auckland clubs East Coast Bays and North Shore United.
Now in his third season with Oceania club champions Auckland City, Lee (22) gets another chance to experience international club football with his side’s involvement in the new FIFA Intercontinental Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.
Main photo: Joe Lee with the OFC Men’s Champions League trophy. Photo: Shane Wenzlick / Phototek.
As the Navy Blues prepared for another campaign, representing Oceania, FIFA interviewed Lee for this special feature …
FIFA: Prior to joining Auckland City, you came up through the youth ranks of Wellington Phoenix, another renowned club in Oceania. What was that experience like?
I caught the eye of one of the coaches at the Wellington Phoenix academy. They called me over when I was around 15 or 16. The Wellington Phoenix academy is considered to be the only professional academy in New Zealand.
So for me, it was a no-brainer. I stayed there for three years. It was a really good experience training and playing in a full time academy alongside some of New Zealand’s best talented players.
Living by myself away from family was a good experience as I got to grow independently and mature at a young age. Definitely a chapter in my life that I’ll take with good experience and plenty of learnings.
FIFA: How did the opportunity to play for Auckland City come about?
Towards the end of my time at Wellington, I decided to make a move back to Auckland to play for a club called North Shore United.
I played there for about a year just before COVID. I had a good season and played against Auckland City two times. I guess I made an impression and was invited to a mini pre-season.
Knowing that Auckland City is the biggest club in Oceania, getting signed by them was definitely a goal I had in mind. At the end of that season, they contacted me to see if I wanted to join them for the 2022 season and without doubt, I said yes.
FIFA: What can you tell us about Auckland City head coach Albert Riera?
Albert is one of the best coaches that I’ve played under. He’s very methodical. We’ve got a very specific style of play.
We’re a possession-based team, so we like to be a really good football-playing team. He took me in and trusted me a lot, which I’m very thankful for, because it’s hard to trust a young player at a prestigious club like Auckland City.
FIFA: Does that style have to change when you face top level sides in competitions like the Club World Cup?
Realistically, playing like how we play in New Zealand against top clubs would not have the same effect.
At the last two Club World Clubs that I’ve been to, we played differently to how we play in New Zealand, because the quality of these teams are much higher.
So it calls us to be more defensive, but it’s not that we don’t try to attack. Our club actually prides itself on good attacking football and has had great success in the previous years playing at the Club World Cup.
Even playing against Al Ittihad, it’s not like we were outclassed. In terms of keeping the ball, there wasn’t a huge difference. They were just far better than us at creating chances.
FIFA: You’ve played at two Club World Cups. At the last edition against Al Ittihad, you faced Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, and Fabinho. What was that like?
It’s the highlight of my career. I would have never imagined playing against those world class players.
My first Club World Cup game was two years ago against Al Ahly. Man, that was incredible. To play in a sold-out stadium, it was surreal. The noise! You can’t even hear yourself.
It’s obviously a different kind of environment compared to New Zealand. It was a real eye-opener. You learn a lot of new things.
Against Al Ittihad, seeing the likes of Benzema, Kante, and Fabinho, I said, “Oh my gosh, dreams come true!” At the same time, though, it made me more hungry to experience these kinds of games again. Now I’m looking forward to the one that’s coming up.
FIFA: Fittingly, Auckland City will play at the Intercontinental Cup this year, and then the Club World Cup next summer. Is there already an excitement amongst the players?
As a team, we don’t really like to look ahead, because all focus now is the league here in New Zealand. However, the excitement is obviously in the back of our minds. If you compare New Zealand to the rest of the world, we’re unknown.
So to have a chance to face the likes of Real Madrid or any of these teams from Europe, South America, North America, and Asia, it’s very exciting. If this can happen every year, I’d love for that to happen, but it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
FIFA: Auckland City won the OFC Champions League for three consecutive seasons, but last year, both the semi-final and final for Auckland went to extra time, one of which went to penalties. This season, the semi-final against Magenta was a narrow 1-0 win. Is the OFC Champions League more difficult to win than it seems to casual fans?
It’s one of the hardest tournaments that I’ve played in. I would describe it as unique but also intense and exhausting. We’re there for about two and a half weeks.
During that time in New Zealand, it’s wintertime. We play all winter long and suddenly go to such a hot climate in the islands. It gets really tough, because we’re not really exposed to that kind of climate in New Zealand.
This year, we landed in Tahiti and had only two days to train before going into a game at 38 degrees.
It’s tough mentally and physically. All the teams that qualify for the OFC Champions league are there for a reason, they’re the best team in their respective country.
Typically, the island teams are very strong, fast, athletic and have a direct style of play which makes them a handful to play against. But nonetheless, we are a team with great players and great coaching staff that sticks together and with each other’s support, makes the adaptation very easy.
It can be a brutal two weeks playing five games and many training sessions in between, but lifting that trophy at the end of the tournament crowned as Oceania champions, it’s indescribable.
FIFA: Auckland City also won the domestic title four straight years since joining the Northern League in 2021, but you guys won the league by only four points in the previous two seasons.
Yeah, people outside of New Zealand probably think that we’re always dominating New Zealand, but it’s not like that.
Our recent game against Manurewa is a testament to that. They were fighting against relegation, but they actually beat us 1-0. We lost three times this season to teams in the bottom half of the table. That’s why we take every game seriously with respect to the opponents.
FIFA: At Auckland City, is there a more experienced teammate that you look up to?
Definitely, there is. First, it’s Ryan De Vries, who’s still at our club. Another one is Emiliano Tade, who left our club at the start of this year, but he was with us at the last two Club World Cups.
They’ve taught me a lot of things, especially as an attacker. Ryan has played over in Japan and Europe. He’s got immense experience and you can see the quality that he still has.
Same thing for Tade. When he was at the club, he always took time to teach me things that I could improve on. That was very valuable for me as a young player.
FIFA: Who is your footballing idol?
I have to say Park Ji-sung. He’s one of the main reasons why I got into football. Back in around ’07 or ’08, those were the glory days of Manchester United and he was a part of that team. When I was 5 or 6, I was very inspired to see him play. I’m Korean by blood and Park Ji-sung is a national name. Everyone knows him in Korea and Asia.
Watching him play alongside Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, he was the one that sparked my interest in football. And now as of more recent, Son Heung Min. What a player and even more so as a human being. He has had an amazing career representing South Korea and Tottenham but despite this, he has a very human and humble side to him which is very inspiring and admirable to see.
FIFA: What is one thing you’d like to accomplish as a footballer?
Currently, I’m considered an amateur player at Auckland City. I’m playing here while still having a job on the side as well. I have to juggle those two things, so one of the main goals is to play football fulltime.
I work for Samsung’s customer service department, handling customers’ needs. Samsung is a big company here in Auckland, but one of my main goals in life is just to live the life of a professional footballer 24/7.
That would be something that I’d love to do.
Acknowledgement
We thank FIFA for allowing us to republish this interview which was first published on FIFA.com.
This story was first published on September 22, 2024.
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