KEY POINTS:
As he prepares to put his Waitakere United side out for tonight's opening match against Adelaide United at the Fifa Club World Cup coach Chris Milicich refuses to draw any comparison with last month's humbling
7-0 loss to the Wellington Phoenix.
"That match showed very clearly that if
you get it wrong, you get beat," said Milicich.
"We did not get it right. They were significantly better and the result showed that."
That the Phoenix then went on to lose 6-1 to Adelaide only emphasises the challenge Waitakere faces here.
"We have to be realistic," said Milicich. "It is a massive challenge. They have three extremely talented central midfielders. In fact, their front six are outstanding. In players like Travis Dodd and Cassio they have match-winners. We will have to be at our very best to match them."
Smarting from last year's shocking start when they conceded two goals in the opening five minutes before eventually losing 3-1 to Iranian club Sepahan, Milicich is determined his players will not be caught in the headlights again.
"We are significantly better prepared this time. We have had an extra week in camp and have trained pretty hard," said Milicich. "But, having said that, Adelaide will be significantly harder than Sepahan. Adelaide want to prove they deserve to be on the world stage. So do we.
"We are here as Oceania representatives as of right and while we are aware of the pressure on us as such, we keep our own counsel when people like Sepp Blatter [Fifa president] question Oceania's right to play in the tournament."
Milicich insists he has the best possible XI, saying that if he had the chance to strengthen his squad he would probably consider only five players from the rest of the NZFC franchises.
He will definitely go with a four-strong defence with the toss-ups at rightback where he will look at Jason Rowley and Aaron Scott and in the centre where he will wait until the last minute before choosing between Jonathan Perry and captain Danny Hay. His midfield trio will be led by ever-present Chris Bale but who will play alongside him has yet to be decided, with Paul Seaman, Jake Butler, Jeff Campbell and perhaps Adriano Pimenta in contention.
Allan Pearce and Roy Krishna seem set to start up front with Benjamin Totori, Kayne Vincent and Daniel Kopricvic chasing the last spot.
Milicich said yesterday that he could write nine names down now but wanted to consider all options before reading out his XI at 6.30pm today.
Club world cup
Waitakere United v Adelaide United
National Stadium, Tokyo
Today 11.45pm (NZ time) live SS3
Waitakere United (likely):
Richard Gillespie, Jason Rowley or Aaron Scott, Neil Emblen, Danny Hay or Jonathan Perry, Neil Sykes, Jake Butler or Jeff Campbell, Chris Bale, Paul Seaman or Adriano Pimenta, Allan Pearce, Daniel Kopricvic or Kayne Vincent, Roy Krishna.