Auckland vs Kashiwa Preview December | 2011 |

Auckland City coach Ramon Tribulietx hopes his side can upset J.League champions Kashiwa Reysol in the opening game of the FIFA Club World Cup on Thursday.

Two years ago in Abu Dhabi, Auckland stunned both home side Al Ahli and African champions TP Mazembe on their way to finishing fifth.

Now making their third appearance in the competition, Tribulietx is keen for the underdogs to once again rise to the occasion.

"There is belief that we can actually win the game," he said on the Oceania Football Confederation website.

"We were impressed after watching Kashiwa win the title and they are a very good team. We know that, they are the J.League winners for a reason.

"We've shown the players some videos of Kashiwa and talked about a few things we can do to hurt them.

"We've also pointed out a few things to the players where Kashiwa can hurt us but the belief is growing that we can compete in this game."

Kashiwa were crowned domestic champions last weekend having only been promoted from Japan's second tier the previous season.

However, coach Nelsinho Baptista is taking nothing for granted.

"I've seen two of their games, but there are still aspects of their team and tactics that are unknown to us," the Brazilian told FIFA's website.

"They've got players from Argentina and Costa Rica. They deserve respect because they were good enough to reach the Club World Cup, but we want to get a good result.

"Our standards remain the same regardless of which players are on the pitch, and we want to continue like that.

"We don't just want to make up the numbers here, we want to keep winning like we have over the past two seasons."

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