Football: Vicelich warns teammates of Uzbekistan quality

Auckland City captain Ivan Vicelich and coach Ramon Tribulietx. Herald on Sunday Photo by Michael Craig

Evergreen midfielder Ivan Vicelich has told his Auckland City FC teammates they will need to go up a gear if they are to get a result against Uzbekistan in their Fifa Club World Cup warm-up match in Dubai tomorrow.

The All Whites lost 3-1 to the Uzbekis in Anthony Hudson's coaching debut back in September and now the Aucklanders get their chance to taste top-level international competition.

Ranked 74th in the World, Uzbekistan are the second senior national team Auckland have faced having lost 2-0 to Kuwait five years ago, and Vicelich is relishing the chance to lock horns with a team taking part in the Asian Cup in Australia in January.

"Uzbekistan are a very good team, very strong and powerful and they gave the All Whites a difficult match in September. The game is a very tough one for us," he said.

Speaking from Auckland's team base camp in Dubai, Vicelich lauded Uzbekistan's strength in midfield with skipper Server Djeparov and Timur Kapadze both boasting over 100 international caps each.

"Uzbekistan have quality players throughout their squad and are strong in midfield. We have to step up to our best level to compete with them.

"Its a big level for us to step up. We need to concentrate and focus. We've talked about that already."

Uzbekistan go into the match as strong favourites with their previous two friendlies yielding a 4-0 win over the UAE six weeks ago off the back of a 0-0 draw with Bahrain.

They've lost just once in their past six matches when Qatar defeated them 3-0 in Doha in early October.

Coach Mirjalol Qosimov's squad also includes Odil Ahmedov who bagged a brace in Uzbekistan's win over the All Whites in Tashkent in September.

The Uzbekis face a tough Asian Cup campaign drawn in Group B alongside China, Korea DPR and Saudi Arabia.

By contrast, the Navy Blues go into Thursday's game off the back of a 4-0 loss to Team Wellington, the club's biggest ever defeat.

Vicelich said that result had been processed by the squad and they were focused on Uzbekistan and Moghreb Tetouan.

"We were disappointed to leave New Zealand with a loss but we need to refresh and focus on the future," Vicelich said.

"Tomorrow's game is going to be hard work and require a big effort. If the players can do that hopefully we can get a good result."

Auckland coach Ramon Tribulietx was waiting on the fitness of three players before naming his starting side.