Whenever he finishes at Auckland FC – and the 36-year-old has at least one more season – Sakai will always be remembered. He has brought success and his professionalism has permeated throughout the environment. He is already one of the best imports in A-League history and especially this country, rivalling the impact of Andrew Durante, Paul Ifill, Roy Krishna and Steven Taylor at the Wellington Phoenix. That’s been shown during this finals series, particularly in last Friday’s 3-0 win in Adelaide.

“It’s years of experience playing at the very top,” Auckland FC director of football Terry McFlynn tells the Herald. “You don’t do what he’s done in the game, not knowing how to play big games. If he’s at Hanover or Marseille, every game’s a big game so for him to come here and you show his experience with us, the boys actually feed off that as well. If you can see it and I can see it and the supporters can see it, the boys are living and breathing it. When you need him, he’s there, he’ll do enough to make sure that the performance is right, and when the team need him to lift it again he does.”

Sakai described last Friday’s performance in Adelaide as “perfect” by the squad.

“It was a difficult situation but we did it,” Sakai says. “Hunger, focus, concentration … trust each other, help each other. Our team is a unit.”

It wasn’t an easy night for Sakai – who picked up a yellow card in the fourth minute – which is a nightmare scenario for a defender.

“It was difficult but fortunately we had a back five,” Sakai says. “Behind me I had three centre backs. Players I trust, always. But I had to watch out to avoid [a] second booking because our tactics would be broken and our team also broken.”

That penalty

Sakai came to the fore – a key role in the first two goals – and there was a sense that it meant more. But he also has a supercomputer mind. That was shown in the elimination final against Melbourne City three weeks ago. Auckland were seemingly through, then they weren’t as the Victorian team scored in the 95th minute. The local side dominated the extra time – but couldn’t find the knockout punch – before the dreaded penalty shootout. With Auckland 5-6 down, Sakai walked from halfway with a clear head.

“I was enjoying the situation,” Sakai says. “It’s a pressure penalty but it’s also a wonderful opportunity for a player. Sudden death penalty kick, home stadium, it’s very good. If I miss the penalty then the team loses but I love such a big responsibility. I love this pressure.”

Sitting in the grandstand were Sakai’s three young children – “They were not nervous” – but next to them his wife could barely watch.

“She had a lot of our friends watching the game around her,” Sakai says.

Sakai then produced a spectacular spot kick, arrowed into the top right corner, with almost no margin for error.

“That penalty was not quite what I expected,” Sakai reveals. “I aimed for the top corner but it was too close. I was very tired and my leg had some cramp … I was so relieved afterwards.”

“It was perfect,” McFlynn observes. “There is not a goalkeeper in the world who saves that.”

It was also a Sliding Doors moment. If Sakai missed the season was over, instead goalkeeper Michael Woud saved the next City attempt before defender Dan Hall put Auckland through.

Keeping the faith

Sakai has always had faith, when few did. The Herald caught up with him in early April, with the team in the middle of what would become a five-match winless run. But he still believed. He was impressed with the cohesion and the culture and especially with the reaction to the dark period in January, where they claimed only one win across six games.

“This season was not terrible, not like as last season, but this is football,” Sakai said at the time. “Seasons always fluctuate. But we will not panic. This is very important. We spoke a lot and not negative things but positive things, even the coaching staff. This is not normal. If you play in Europe or Japan, then if they get a difficult situation, they start complaining a lot. I was happy; we stayed together.”

Sakai also felt the squad had improved off the field.

“More adult, not like children,” Sakai smiled. “Everybody is focused on their performance and their behaviour is much better than last year, more professional.”

But what does Sakai do in the pressure moments, especially for young players that will undoubtedly have emerged this week?

“I always try to release the pressure or release the worry,” Sakai says. “I don’t want to blame the player because they do their best, 100% always.”

There had been a significant mental toll his season, trying to back up their exploits of the 2024/2025 campaign, when almost everything went to plan.

“There was more pressure,” Sakai says. “We have to win, We have to stay top group. Not like last season when people were excited and any win, we are like gods. But this pressure is good for experience.”

Now the rest is up to football fates but Sakai is determined to savour the experience, whatever the result.

“It will be an historic night, for Auckland, for New Zealand,” Sakai says. “The most important thing are the fans. Obviously the players are happy to play a grand final in Auckland but it means so much for the crowd.”

Michael Burgess has been a Sports Journalist for the New Zealand Herald since 2005, covering the Olympics, Fifa World Cups, and America’s Cup campaigns. He is a co-host of the Big League podcast.