The team beat Midlands 2-0 in the playoff for third and fourth at the under-21 tournament last year. But the format has been changed this season and the finals day has been axed in favour of a straight round-robin.Southern coach Gabe Rawcliffe said his team was disappointed with the change.
"It has upset quite a few of the teams, including us," he said.
"The guys pay a lot of money to go to these tournaments and it is kind of an anti-climax to show up, play the round-robin and not have a final.
"And for teams like Southern, who do not necessarily get the build-up ... it is quite hard to put a team together which is going to gel on the first day of the tournament.
"We tend to get better as the tournament goes on but if you drop a game early on in the week ... it does mean that you are at a disadvantage."
The tournament is being staged in Auckland and Southern will get its campaign under way against Capital today.
It is a game Southern will be targeting for a win. However, with the teams changing so much from year to year it can be hard to get a gauge on the opposition.
Southern suffered 3-0 losses to North Harbour and Canterbury in the pre-season but Rawcliffe thought his side showed promising signs.
"We actually played quite well against North Harbour and it was tightly fought.‘‘I think they were concerned that we had never played a game together but got that close to them."
The loss to Canterbury was not a fair reflection of the game either, he said.
"We conceded a couple of soft goals which didn’t help but, in the end, those pre-season games are about the experience and learnings rather than the actual outcome."
Southern did beat an Otago senior team and has "a pretty good squad", Rawcliffe said.
Tim Mathews shapes as a key playmaker in the midfield.
"He has had a good couple of seasons over the last few years at the under-21s and he is a really skilful player who I expect a lot from this year."
Defender Max Rasmussen produced some quality efforts during the pre-season games and has played for New Zealand at age-group level.
If the Southern defence is beaten then it can rely on talented goalie Dominic Dixon to keep the ball out of the back of the net.
He went to the Junior World Cup last year and ‘‘is the type of guy that makes five saves in a row for you in the space of 10 seconds.
"If he plays well it is going to be pretty hard for teams to score against us to be honest.
"I’d say he’d be one of the best keepers at the tournament if not the best."
Striker Silas Dalley is "really strong on the ball" and hits the ball hard, while captain Vincent O’Connor is another player Southern will lean on heavily for inspiration.
U21 men’s tourney in Auckland
Southern: Vincent O’Connor (captain), Sam Bocock, Caleb Booth, Josh Caldwell, Silas Dalley, Dominic Dixon, Jesse Drake, Daniel Guthrie, Thomas Hatherly, Finn Mahon, Tim Mathews, Jamie Pollock, Max Rasmussen, Cameron Sims, Craig Turner, Aarie Verwey, Jordan Ward, Henry Will.
Southern’s draw
v Capital, today
v Auckland, tomorrow
v Midlands, May 8
v Central, May 9
v North Harbour, May 11
v Canterbury, May 13
