An end-of-season “boys’ trip” to Las Vegas for a team of semi-professional Australian footballers has derailed Auckland FC’s pre-season, and the A-League high-flyers are blaming Football Australia for the mix-up. Auckland FC coach Steve Corica has slammed the “poor planning” of Football Australia, after its last-minute schedule change in the Australia Cup – which has caused considerable dramas behind the scenes for the A-League Premiers. Their semifinal has been brought forward by two weeks – after a scheduling error behind the scenes – while Football Australia refused to consider alternative future dates because Auckland FC’s opposition had an end-of-season “boys’ trip” to Las Vegas already booked. It might sound hard to believe – but it’s true. Auckland FC will face Victorian NPL team Heidelberg United in the last four of the Australia Cup on Saturday (9.30pm NZT). The Australia Cup semifinals were meant to be staged in two weeks – on the weekend of September 13-14 – but were suddenly rescheduled at short notice, with the new dates confirmed only last Monday. The late change has caused considerable disruption to Auckland FC’s pre-season schedule. Auckland FC's incredible debut season was one of the A-League's key narratives last season. Photo / Photosport Originally, Auckland FC were set to play a pre-season friendly against Western Sydney Wanderers in Sydney on Wednesday, before returning to New Zealand, where the squad had a four-day break, with some players already booked on trips away with families and partners. That has all been cancelled, while the club has scrambled to find suitable training venues and accommodation in Melbourne. Privately, the club is fuming, especially given the rationale. The Herald understands: The semifinals were initially moved because Football Australia had double-booked the dates. The original dates of September 13 and 14 would have potentially clashed with Australia’s National Premier League finals, which are due to be staged that weekend. There are two NPL clubs still in the Australia Cup (Heidelberg United and Avondale FC), along with Auckland FC and Newcastle Jets. Not anticipating that potential clash is hard to understand, given Football Australia oversees both competitions. Given that news, Auckland FC pushed for a number of alternative dates for the semifinal, including the following two weekends (September 20-21 and 27-28), plus numerous midweek dates in the same period. Despite some frank conversations, the A-League club was told that none of those was possible, partly because Heidelberg United have already booked an end-of-season jaunt to Las Vegas. An Auckland FC club insider described the process as a “shambles and thoroughly unprofessional”. There is also a feeling that Football Australia has devalued the Australia Cup by giving precedence to the NPL arrangements. It creates an unusual scenario, with a massive five-week gap between the semifinals and the final. Last year, there was only one week, while the buffer in 2022 and 2023 was a fortnight. It’s also less than ideal for the five-strong All Whites contingent in the squad. Those players, who have already been in Australia for more than a week, will have no opportunity to return, given the national team assemble in Canberra on Monday, September 1. Auckland FC chief executive Nick Becker: 'Obviously very frustrated.' Photo / Photosport “We’re obviously very frustrated with how this has played out,” Auckland FC chief executive Nick Becker told the Herald. “We worked back from the advertised, publicly available, semifinal date if we did progress, and we had a whole preseason training programme in place. “We’re a professional club and we have staff who are preparing for not only the Australian Cup, but also the A-League. So to drop these changes on us at the last minute was far from ideal. “We thought it would have made more sense to move to after the proposed date, but the solution that they found really only suited o...