Auckland City FC coach Ramon Tribulietx says his players are "thrilled" at the prospect of next week's OFC President's Cup at The Trusts Arena.
The New Zealand and Oceania champions will have played seven competitive matches in just four weeks - all that ahead of a friendly with Uzbekistan and the FIFA Club World Cup in December.
But Tribulietx sees the OFC President's Cup as a key component of Auckland City FC's preparations ahead of their mission in Morocco against Moghreb Tétouan on December 10.
"The players are thrilled to compete in a tournament like the OFC President's Cup against, in some cases, professional teams.
"It is also a good build-up for the FIFA Club World Cup which we are playing in two or three weeks' time. Our team is very motivated and we'll take the OFC President's very seriously," he said.
Auckland City FC have made a perfect start to the ASB Premiership winning four matches from four with their ASB Charity Cup penalty shoot-out slip-up to Team Wellington their only defeat to date.
Tribulietx expects their first match with Singapore U-23 to be difficult, but as ever, has prepared meticulously.
"Singapore have a pretty well defined style of football with a solid 4-4-2, they like sitting deep and hitting teams on the counter attack.
"They have a couple of fast players up front but when they have the ball they're quite happy building up from the back.
"It'll be a good challenge. Most of their players play in the Singapore S-League which is a professional league.
"That means, not only physically, but technically, they'll be mentally prepared to play in the OFC President's Cup," he says.
Tribulietx believes squad rotation is par for the course.
"Singapore U-23 will be a very difficult opponent and we hope to recover from our recent games in the ASB Premiership quickly. We hope we can compete well in this match.
"Squad rotation is important, for sure. We have a game on Monday with Singapore then face Bodden Town on Friday. The playoffs are on Sunday, so we'll have some tired bodies to deal with.
"We'll make sure everyone has an opportunity to see some game time and see what it means to play against professional players. We'll rotate the squad as much as possible to be competitive in every game," he says.
Auckland City FC faces Singapore U-23 at The Trusts Arena on Monday 17 November at 5pm NZST.
Their next match is with Bodden Town at the same venue and kick-off time on Friday 21 November.
The OFC President's Cup final is set for Sunday 23 November with three playoff matches starting at 1pm NZST.
All matches will be streamed live through the OFC TV YouTube channel.