CENTRAL Coast Mariners defender Joshua Rose says the yellow and navy are confident ahead of their final 2013 AFC Champions League Group H fixture against Japan’s Kashiwa Reysol at Central Coast Stadium on Tuesday night.
CENTRAL Coast Mariners defender Joshua Rose says the yellow and navy are confident ahead of their final 2013 AFC Champions League Group H fixture against Japan-s Kashiwa Reysol at Central Coast Stadium on Tuesday night.
Graham Arnold-s men will book their place in the knockout phase of Asia-s premier club competition should they collect maximum points against Nelsinho Baptista-s J-League outfit tomorrow evening.
If the Mariners fail to defeat Reysol, the Club will have to hope that Seo Jung-won-s Suwon Bluewings either win or draw against Gong Lei’s Guizhou Renhe in China.
“It-s such a big game tomorrow night for us and for the Club,” Rose said. “The boys are full of confidence and we-ve seen that over the last few days at training. For us to qualify for the second round, it-s as big as the Grand Final. It-s something us as players as well as ‘Arnie- want to achieve. It-s a goal we set at the start of the season and we-re fully focussed for tomorrow-s game.”
The visitors have already qualified for the Round of 16 of the AFC Champions League following their 1-1 draw with Guizhou at home last Tuesday.
Central Coast head into the Matchday 6 encounter in sensational form, after securing their maiden Hyundai A-League Championship and claiming their first ever away win away in Asia-s top club tournament last Tuesday, defeating Suwon Bluewings 1-0 in Korea Republic.
“It-s been a massive week. Everyone is buzzing, but Arnie keeps telling us it-s in the past now. We have to look forward and try to achieve another one of our goals. It-s in our hands; we know what we have to do. If we win, we qualify, so we-re concentrating on the game and we want to win,” he said.
The consistent left back has called on the support of fans for tomorrow night-s clash as the yellow and navy look to qualify for the second round of AFC Champions League for the first time in Club history.
“It would be fantastic to see a lot of people come out and show their support once again. We-ve been out there training hard all season and we-ve been getting the results, if the crowd turns up it-s going to be fantastic,” he said.
“They get the chance to see a great team in Reysol play as well, and hopefully we can perform against them and prove that we can match it against these top teams. I am sure with their help, it will spur us on that little bit more.”
Central Coast Mariners (AUS) vs. Kashiwa Reysol (JPN) – 2013 AFC Champions League Matchday 5
Tuesday 30 April, 2013
Central Coast Stadium, Gosford
Kick-off: 8:30pm AEST
$10 Tickets: Please CLICK HERE to purchase tickets to the match.
Twitter: Join the match conversation on Twitter! The official match hash tag is #CCMvKR
