"It's quite funny. A lot of friends and acquaintances want to have a photo with me, even though they have known me since I was born," says Tribulietx. "But it's great that everyone is talking about us. It's reward for a huge commitment by a lot of people for a long time."
Even on holiday, Tribulietx - who admits he is a football obsessive - struggles to switch off and has been scouting Japan, who Auckland City face this evening (8pm NZT) in Cessnock, near Newcastle. But the 42-year-old has had time to reflect on the Club World Cup when, for 12 days, a part-time team upset the normal order of the football world.
For Tribulietx, the most "special memory" came at the first game, during and after the penalty shootout win over Moghreb Ttouan. Tribulietx didn't have a pre-arranged list of takers. He simply asked, 'who's up for it?' Tim Payne, John Irving, Darren White, Mario Bilen and Sanni Issa volunteered. Payne, Irving and White were successful before Bilen missed, balancing out an earlier save by Tamati Williams. At that moment, the 35,000-strong home crowd was jubilant and Tribulietx reserves special praise for Nigerian Issa, who faced a death-or-glory situation as the fifth taker.
"As Sanni was walking up, the noise against him was unbelievable," says Tribulietx. "It was probably the worst noise I have heard for a long time. It reminded me of Barcelona against Real Madrid, and the Barca fans booing them. This is how [Sanni] felt as he was preparing to take the penalty."
Issa coolly finished, then Tetouan's Mehdi Khallati struck the post to seal Auckland City's win.
"When Khallati missed ... that was the most special moment, for sure," says Tribulietx. "That's the pressure game. You go through or you are dead. "
His other standout moment was the most surreal - matching South American champions San Lorenzo.
"You could hear [their bench] throughout the game," he says. "They were nervous. They were concerned that we could hurt them."
It had seemed impossible to imagine but the team gained immeasurable belief from their impressive win over African champions ES Setif in the quarter-final.
"If you think about playing San Lorenzo outside this tournament in a one-off game, obviously everyone would go, 'wow, big team, South American champions'. It would have been a different story. But after you have beaten those other two teams, and the way you have done it, you start to think, 'well, OK, why not?'"
Auckland conceded a goal right on halftime but Tribulietx insisted on a special reception as the players returned to the dressing room.
"When we got into halftime, I got all our staff to give them a round of applause," says Tribulietx. "We had matched [San Lorenzo] and they deserved to receive that. Then we said, 'OK, we have done it for 45 minutes, can we do it again?'"
They nearly did, with Angel Berlanga scoring a superb equaliser and Emiliano Tade missing a golden opportunity in the 80th minute.
"If he scores that, mate, if he scores that..." Tribulietx's voice trails away. "They could have scored, too, but we had a wonderful chance to go ahead and, after that, who knows? Auckland City playing Real Madrid? It can't really get much better than that. Well, only if you play Barcelona, I guess," he laughs.
"But we have to be happy and proud of what we have done. After the game, the San Lorenzo coach congratulated me and said, 'you have a fantastic team, you have done really well'. I thought that was unbelievable."
Morocco feels like the crowning moment of Tribulietx's coaching career but it might only be the beginning. It seems inevitable he will be offered a professional role overseas.
Tribulietx, who has been linked with an MLS club and has previously worked in an advisory role with the Canadian national women's team, acknowledges there has been interest from "many different parts of the planet".
"I've had a lot of calls, emails, but we'll see. There is some interest out there but, in this game of football, you never know. I love New Zealand and my job at Auckland City. A lot of people talk but when - and if - the opportunities actually come, you never know."
Ramon Tribulietx
• 2011- Auckland City head coach
• 2010-11 Auckland City co-coach
• 2008-10 Auckland City assistant coach
• In Spain, Tribulietx held coaching positions in the Segunda Division B (third tier) with UE Sant Andreu, UE Figueres & UE Castelldefels.
