Soccer: Coach's dilemma over friendly with Fujairah

Auckland City coach Paul Posa is caught in two minds in preparing his team for tonight's Club World Cup warm-up game in Fujairah.

He would like to put out what he considers his likely starting line-up for next week's all-import game in the Fifa tournament but he is fully aware the friendly will be watched closely by the Al Ahly Sports Club coaching staff as part of their big match preparation.

Any set plays will be "kept simple", he said. "We know we will be watched and don't want to give too much away," said Posa. "On the other hand I want to give as many players as possible some time in this game. I would rather not consider it as a final trial.

"I certainly won't be basing my final selection for next week's game on just 45 minutes of football when we have had three months working with the players."

One call Posa must make is in choosing between Jacob Spoonley, who will start tonight, and Paul Gothard (who will play the second half) as his goalkeeper.

"It is unfortunate that only one can play," said Posa, "as I feel we have two of the very best goalkeepers in our league."

The team have trained three times since arriving on Tuesday morning.

"We learned a lot about the style of football played over here by playing Kuwait at home in February," said Posa. "Now, we have to put other things into practice. Little things like the different bounce of the ball in the very dry conditions and how it flys through the air.

"In coming to a different place you quickly notice little things and how players react. Some might thrive in this environment while others might flounder. The result will not be as important as how we play."

City should be too strong for the Ahli Al Fujairah team, who, are now a second division club.

Posa will go with a 4-3-3 line-up with his back four of James Pritchett, Greg Uhlmann, captain Ivan Vicelich and Ian Hogg starting in front of Spoonley. Ki-Hyung Lee, Adam McGeorge and Matt Williams will start in midfield with Chad Coombes, Daniel Kopricvic and Adam Dickinson up front.

While he continues to make progress in recovering from injury, Alex Feneridis will probably be restricted to around 20 minutes while Keryn Jordan and Grant Young will again be used as second half substitutes.