City chase dream against Al Jazira
PHOTOSPORT ‘‘THINGS in life don’t come for free. You have to work for them.’’
That’s how coach Ramon Tribulietx sums up his approach at Auckland City, who begin their ninth Fifa Club World Cup campaign on Thursday [NZ time] in the United Arab Emirates.
This year, they face Al Jazira, the reigning champions of the UAE Arabian Gulf League, in the playoff to make the quarterfinals, and they will once again be heavy underdogs, as they look to write another fairytale to join those of 2014 – when they finished third – and 2009 – when they finished fifth.
The other seven times, the playoff has proved to be too big a hurdle, but they have never been embarrassed, even though they are an amateur team up against professionals.
Five of their participations have come with the tournament in Japan, and every time they’ve gone there, they’ve faced a team fresh from winning the J-League that has been too strong for them. The other three times – in the UAE in 2009, and in Morocco in 2013 and 2014 – they have beaten the local champions in the playoff twice, losing the other match only in second-half stoppage time.
There are reasons for them to be confident as they prepare to play Al Jazira, who have started the current Arabian Gulf League season sluggishly, winning just three of their opening nine games, drawing four and losing two.
The previous Arabian season ended in May, and Al Jazira had the title sewn up in April – and that has allowed Auckland to do their homework.
‘‘It’s a different style of team to the ones you play when you go to Japan, but it’s still a very good team, full of talented players from other countries,’’ Tribulietx said.
Auckland City may be the closest thing to a second professional team New Zealand has, particularly with regard to the amount and type of work they put in on the training pitch, but they are still amateurs playing against pros at this event. Tribulietx puts their strong history down to the amount of work they do.
‘‘We’ve worked hard and we’ve prepared for the games physically and tactically,’’ he said.
‘‘When you’re the underdog, you need to be very good tactically with the ball and without the ball. If you can train your team to a level that’s going to make you compete against those sides, then you get closer.’’