Auckland City coach Paul Posa is taking a "bring it on" attitude into next month's Fifa Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi.
While accepting the good results achieved by New Zealand teams in the past 12 months or so had put added pressure on his team, Posa said those efforts
had also raised his confidence.
A further boost is the quality of the opposition they will face in the tournament opener at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium on December 9 - last season's United Arab Emirates champions, Al Ahli FCD, who have been given automatic entry as hosts.
It promises to be an easier first-up assignment than City and Waitakere United have faced in the past.
"They [Al Ahli] have struggled this season," said Posa. "They changed their coach after last season. They employed a Romanian, but he was sacked, and they now have another coach. There has also been quite a turnover in their players.
"We have seen videos of recent matches and know they will be quick and direct and have a Brazilian striker who a lot of the play seems to go through.
"We have some idea of how we are going to play and certainly won't be underestimating the opposition."
Posa yesterday released his 21-player squad - goalkeeping coach Simon Eaddy will be the 22nd player as the third goalkeeper - with a good mix of youth and experience.
"We have six 19 or 20-year-olds," said Posa. "We had some hard calls to make, but in the end I went for the younger players."
The youngest is former East Coast Bays left-sided player Daniel Morgan, who celebrated his 19th birthday last week. He is joined by fellow 19-year-old Ian Hogg and Sam Campbell, Alex Feneridis, Adam McGeorge and Milos Nikolic - all 20.
At the other end of the age scale are the thirty-something brigade headed by South African-born striker Grant Young (38), new goalkeeper Paul Gothard and Korean-born sharpshooter Ki-Hyung Lee (both 35), and 34-year-old Keryn Jordan who has yet to play this season but is expected to play off the bench in Saturday's O-League game against Waitakere.
City have a warm-up game planned for next week against the top Dubai second division team.
With US$16.5 million at stake in prizemoney, there is plenty of incentive for the Oceania champions to perform.
One of the All Whites who stormed into the World Cup finals, City captain Ivan Vicelich, is keen to emulate that: "There is a lot of experience in our team and we have been training hard."
Club chairman Ivan Vuksich is determined to avoid a repeat of their limp effort in Japan three years ago. "In 2006 we were severely underdone. We lost our coach three weeks before. At that time I said if there is a next time, we will be ready. We are."
AUCKLAND CITY SQUAD FOR ABU DHABI
Goalkeepers: Paul Gothard, Jacob Spoonley.
Defenders: Sam Campbell, Ian Hogg, James Pritchett, Greg Uhlmann, Riki Van Steeden, Ivan Vicelich (c).
Midfielders: Alex Feneridis, Ki-Hyung Lee, Adam McGeorge, Daniel Morgan, Matt Williams.
Strikers: Chad Coombes, Adam Dickinson, Jason Hayne, Keryn Jordan, Daniel Koprivcic, Milosh Nikolic, Paul Urlovic, Grant Young.
City's Grant Young (left) and Keryn Jordan. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Auckland City coach Paul Posa is taking a "bring it on" attitude into next month's Fifa Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi.
While accepting the good results achieved by New Zealand teams in the past 12 months or so had put added pressure on his team, Posa said those efforts
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