The Oceania club champions have appeared at the FIFA Club World Cup once before, losing 2-0 to Egypt’s Al Ahly and 3-0 to Korea Republic’s Jeonbuk Motors in 2006.
With a second shot on the world’s biggest stage, Vicelich says the team is eager to turn things around.
“We didn’t score a single goal in 2006 and that was a big disappointment for us. We’ve prepared well this year though, and we’re going to score a lot of goals. We’ve been talking about this match for weeks now and we need to go out and execute our gameplan,” said Vicelich.
Auckland City coach Paul Posa says the squad is also motivated to ride the wave of success that New Zealand football has recently enjoyed.
“It’s been a good year for New Zealand as the youth team qualified to the second round of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, while the national team qualified for the FIFA World Cup™ for the first time since 1982. We have some confidence and we are looking forward to having a good tournament as we have to believe in ourselves,” said Posa.
But their opponents Al Ahli have every incentive to impress in the opening game. The Dubai side collected their fifth championship title in May, and are looking to set the seal on a magnificent year with a convincing display in their first FIFA Club World Cup appearance.
With both sides looking for their first win in the tournament, something has to give.
For further information on the FIFA Club World Cup visit: www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/index.html
Al Ahli FC [UAE] vs. Auckland City FC [NZL]
Wednesday 9 December 2009
Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Local kick-off time: 20h00 [NZT: 05h00 Thursday 10 December]
Al Ahli FC: 1. Yosif ABDALLA [GK], 3. Saad SUROUR, 5. Mohammad QASSIM, 6. Kahled MOHAMMED, 7. Onaid KHALEIFA, 8. Ali ABBAS, 9. BARE, 10. Ahmed KHALIL, 12. Hosny ABD RABO, 14. Bader YAQOOT, 15. Ismail AL HAMMADI, 16. Hassan ALI, 20. Yousif JABER, 21. Mohammed FAWZI, 23. Mehrzad MADANCHI, 25. Abdulla AHMAD, 26. Salem KHAMIS, 29. Ali HUSSAIN, 30. Mohamed RASHID, 31. Waleed AHMED, 33. Saif YOUSUF [GK], 35. Abdulla ABDULRAHMAN, 50. ALSUWADI [GK]
Coach: Mahdi ALI
Auckland City FC: 1. Jacob SPOONLEY [GK], 3. Ian HOGG, 4. Sam CAMPBELL, 5. Matt WILLIAMS, 6. Ki-Hyung LEE, 7. James PRITCHETT, 8. Chad COOMBES, 9. Paul URLOVIC, 10. Grant YOUNG, 11. Daniel KOPRIVCIC, 12. Simon EADDY [GK], 13. Alex FENERIDIS, 14. Keryn JORDAN, 15. Ivan VICELICH, 16. Jason HAYNE, 17. Adam McGEORGE, 18. Paul GOTHARD [GK], 20. Greg UHLMANN, 21. Riki VAN STEEDEN, 22. Adam DICKINSON, 25. Milos NIKOLIC, 26. Daniel MORGAN
Coach: Paul POSA
Photo courtesy FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images