Speaking at a joint press conference alongside Raja Casablanca’s newly appointed coach Faouzi Benzarti, Tribulietx said relying on structure was the key.
“This is a part of football and when you do well you expect to lose your players. It’s been happening to us for a long time but we tend to find good replacements.
“Auckland City has been doing well for the past five years. Even if we lose players in the next transfer window, which I expect us to do, the team will do well,” he said, “We know our pattern, our structure is good and we know our philosophy and thats how we will continue.”
Auckland City FC have lost top quality players before and found replacements.
Last season they lost Manel Exposito to Belgian football while Albert Riera was picked off by the Wellington Phoenix following a friendly match between the two clubs in October.
Andreu Guerao left Auckland City after the Club World Cup in Japan to sign for Dinamo Tiblisi in Georgia.
While Tribulietx has his concerns, Auckland City FC face a wounded Raja Casablanca still reeling from the shock departure of their double-winning coach.
A Cup final defeat, a form slump that sees them sit sixth in the Moroccan league and a doping test failure for one of their top stars hints at disarray.
It’s all reminscent of the All Whites intercontintal play-off with a Mexican outfit reeling from one sacked coach controvery to the next but as that tie showed it would be foolish to assume anything where Raja are concerned.
New coach Benzarti, 63, is an experienced campaigner having coached 18 African clubs since 1979 and twice been head coach of the Tunisian national team.
With so little time to work with his players ahead of the Auckland match, Benzarti remains wary of his amateur foes but optimistic of progress.
“The first match with Auckland City FC will be very difficult but I hope the result will be okay and then we will have time to manage the rest.
“This is not my first experience of taking charge of a club during a critical time. For me trust in the group is the most important thing, trust,” he said, “The last three or four days show we have time to do something together. If we cooperate we can make progress very quickly.”
Tribulietx said competing at the FIFA Club World Cup for a fifth time was an honour but acknowledged that Raja Casablanca’s extensive pedigree made the home side clear favourites.
“Raja is going to be very difficult, we know the history of their club, they are a well-known and well-respected club in Africa and its going to be very difficult to compete.
“We’re preparing well and we hope that experience of past years will help us put on a performance. For us its great to be here, great for a small club like us to participate at a Club World Cup.
“We’re still the underdogs in this competition but we’ve learned from the past, we know what we’re doing as a team and we want to do well, thats what we aim for,” he said.
Tickets have sold fast in Agadir for the match with 30,000 of the 40,000 tickets already snapped up and still three days of sales to run.
“We know the atmopshere is going to be rough,” Tribulietx said, “I came here for the draw and watched Morocco play South Africa and there were 40,000 people in the stadium.
“I’m from Spain and I’m used to this atmosphere so it was great to feel that but for our players it will be a double edged knife.
“It could be fear for the first few minutes but its a great experience and we’ve got to like to be in that experience but hopefully it doesn’t affect us too much.
The match kicks off at 7.30pm local time on Wednesday 11 December with the victors advancing to a quarter-final showdown with Monterrey of Mexico three days later.
Match details
FIFA Club World Cup Morocco 2013 – Playoff
Wednesday 11 December
Raja Casablanca (MOR) v Auckland City FC (NZL)
Agadir Stadium, Agadir
Kick-off: 7.30pm local
Aucklnd City FC: 1- Tamati WILLIAMS (GK), 3- Takuya IWATA, 4- Mario BILEN, 5- Angel BERLANGA, 6- John IRVING, 7- James PRITCHETT, 8- Chris BALE, 9- Darren WHITE, 10- Ryan de VRIES, 11- Daniel KOPRIVCIC, 12- Roy KRISHNA, 13- Alex FENERIDIS, 14- Adam DICKINSON, 15- Ivan VICELICH (c), 16- Cristobal Marquez CRESPO, 17- Adam McGEORGE, 18- Louie CAUNTER (GK), 19- David BROWNE, 20- Emiliano TADE, 21- Rory TURNER, 22- Andrew MILNE, 23- Sam BURFOOT, 24- Oliver SAIL (GK).
Coach: Ramon TRIBULIETX
Story courtesy Auckland City FC Media.
For more on Auckland City FC go to www.aucklandcityfc.com

Share