KEY POINTS:
Neither coach wants to look too far ahead but Adelaide United's Aurelio Vidmar is obviously quietly confident his side will see off Chris Milicich's Waitakere United in Thursday's Fifa Club World Cup opener.
Both clubs held press conferences yesterday and while both camps were reluctant to look beyond
the opening game, Vidmar, rightly so, appeared the more confident in looking ahead to the quarter-final clash with local hope Gamba Osaka.
"The dynamics of football have changed [since joining the Asian Confederation] and the quality of games are a much higher level," said Vidmar who admitted they had watched Waitakere play the Wellington Phoenix last month and said they were aware of United's style.
Asked whether he had thought about playing Manchester United, Vidmar said, "every team in our situation dreams of playing Manchester United but our sole focus now is on playing Waitakere on Thursday."
Milicich is taking the same frank "one game at a time" approach.
But for captain Danny Hay, that game means a chance to erase the bitter memories of last year's humbling 3-1 loss to Asian champions Sepahan.
At Waitakere's earlier press conference, Hay again spoke of "redemption" but just as quickly was realistic in his assessment of the situation. "We gained a lot from being here last year," said Hay. "But the reality is we are amateur players and the NZFC in which we play at home is quite a low standard.
Bearing in mind what happened last year when we were 2-0 down after five minutes, we have to start well this time. We can't be half asleep like we were
last year.
"To get here we can only beat the sides we came up against and we did," said Hay. "Hopefully we can show something more this year than we did last time."
Asked why Waitakere had gone to China en route to Japan, coach Chris Milicich said: "Last year our preparations were woefully inadequate. We flew straight here from New Zealand and it took two days before the players were ready to train.
"Our aim this time was to arrive in Japan in the best possible shape," said Milicich. "The club has put a lot of resources into our preparation. We had a good 3-1 win over a professional side in China and then had only a short flight to Japan.
"Adelaide are a very strong side. You don't end up in the final of the Asian League if you can't play. They are strong at the back, up front and out wide," he said.
Both camps appear relatively injury-free although Vidmar said a couple of his players including Cassio had picked up a virus but he expected them to be fit to play.