Oceania champions Auckland City will not be overawed when they kick off their Club World Cup campaign in Japan on Thursday.
They should be buoyed by their 2009 Club World Cup heroics and New Zealand s unbeaten run at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, according to coach Ramon Tribulietx.
The New Zealanders face Japanese champions Kashiwa Reysol in Thursday s opener where they are the underdogs to earn a place in the quarter-final against Mexican club Monterrey.
However, Barcelona-born Tribulietx, who was an assistant coach at Auckland when they finished fifth at the 2009 Club World Cup in UAE with wins over Al Wahda and TP Mazembe, said his side believed they could match it with Kashiwa.
The main thing you can take out of that (2009 s fifth-place finish) is that we can compete at this level. We are convinced that we can do it, Tribulietx told Goal.com.
It s going to be very difficult because we re going to play a very good team, we re coming from New Zealand and the competition back home is not as good. But we can challenge these guys.
The last few results for the All Whites and (New Zealand s) junior teams, have been pretty good. That s spreading around New Zealand and we re convinced we can compete at a higher level.
It s the same story here, we re getting that belief that we re competitive at the highest level. It is going to be very difficult, because we re not professional.
There is a step in professionalism between the two teams which is going to be difficult to overcome, but we ve got the belief for sure.
Tribulietx witnessed Kashiwa Reysol first hand on the weekend as they claimed the Japanese title with a 3-1 win at Urawa Red Diamonds.
The Spaniard admitted they were a well-organised, quality side and said their Brazilians presented a major danger to his side.
I watched them and they are very good. They are the J-League champions so you d expect them to be a very good team, Tribulietx said.
Defensively, they re pretty well organised. They try to hurt teams on the counter, they ve got a couple of Brazilian players in Leandro Domingues and Jorge Wagner who are very good. They give them that extra bit of quality and unpredictability. We re going to have to be at our best.
Tribulietx was cool on any suggestions Kashiwa may take the Oceania champions lightly after their celebrations following their title success, along with Monday s J-League awards night where the club swept a host of honours.
You never know. They might be tired, they might over-celebrate and then not be at their best on Thursday, Tribulietx said.
Or they might be fresher because they got rid of the pressure. Sometimes that can bring out the extra quality when they play without pressure. There s advantages and disadvantages in that respect, so we can only control what we can control.
