18 Jan 2012

Sport: Amicale seeking revenge in O-League final rematch

11:37 am on 18 January 2012

Amicale FC have revenge on their mind ahead of tonight's Oceania Champions League group match at Auckland City.

The two teams haven't met since last year's grand final which Auckland won 6-1 on aggregate.

Vanuatu's Amicale sit in second place in Group B, two points behind the home side and tied with Hekari United, who've played one extra game.

Club President Jean-Yves Chabod says last year was the first time they had encountered Auckland so they now feel better equipped to take them on.

"We come to compete against the champions anywhere. We prepare for this game and we know that Auckland is not an easy club to fight with but we're here for the game. Like I said to the boys it's like a revenge for us because we lose last year against them. Last year Auckland was a team we'd never play against. Now we know who is Auckland and we prepare to meet them today."

Auckland City's Director of Football, Aaron McFarland, is hoping Amicale greater need for a victory will work in their favour.

We're in a league format at the moment and we've got a bit of a position of advantage and I guess they need to come at us and try and win the game. Whilst we're trying to do the same thing the pressure's not on us so much, because we've got more points and we're in the box seat at the moment in our small pool. It will probably just reduce the pressure on the game which hopefully will come to our advantage so we can play the football that we're trying to develop.

The match kicks off just before 6pm local time.