Including Auckland City’s OFC Champions League travels, the team has racked up an astonishing 36,663 kilometres distance, nearly 48 hours in the air, stops in seven countries on four continents.
Coach Ramon Tribulietx described Auckland City FC’s travels as a “very long journey” but is now focussed on preparing for the all important clash with Raja Casablanca on December 11.
“The travel means we need to take a bit of time to readjust ourselves and the jetlag is going to be one of the key factors.
“It was good to take the time in Barcelona to make sure we extended the trip and hopefully we are in a good space when we play Raja Casablanca.
“It was definitely a difficult itinerary,” Tribulietx said.
Auckland City FC has set up official Team Base Camp at the Robinson Club in Agadir, a sprawling resort complex on the coast.
Uniquely, the Navy Blues will share the accommodation with their Moroccan opponents who live virtually next door.
“Its not usual. You would probably expect to have your own hotel but FIFA have their reasons and we must respect that.
“Its a massive complex and we’ll probably not really clash that much, there’s plenty of space,” he said.
Auckland City FC’s itinerary was disrupted due to a flight delay in Casablanca which meant that a training session scheduled for today was cancelled.
Tribulietx said the Navy Blues would train once tomorrow.
“We have to get a good session in over the next couple of days. We haven’t had the opportunity yet to have a good training session.
“We’ve been travelling for three days and we had a very short session on the first day in Barcelona then we had the game with Espanyol.
“We need to make sure the players start feeling their legs and feeling their touch on the ball which is something we felt was not in a good state against Espanyol.
“Then we’ll start getting ready for Raja Casablanca,” he said.
The players will attend a FIFA Team Arrival Meeting at the Robinson Club complex before getting in their first training session in Morocco at 11am local time.
Ends

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