It's straight to work for the Navy Blues in Dubai

Words: ACFC Media

Thursday 30 November 2023

DUBAI, UAE - It was a contrast in weather for the Auckland City FC players as they arrived in Dubai earlier this morning.

Albert Riera's team departed Auckland on Tuesday evening to grey skies and gridlock traffic as the journey to the FIFA Club World Cup started.

But it couldn't have been much more different when they arrived in UAE following an epic 17 hour non-stop flight.

Most of the Auckland City FC side disembarked in the early hours of the morning in Dubai to hazy desert skies having to reach for the air conditioning on their bus.

It's set to be as high as 30 dergees in the city this week, climbing to 35 at the weekend.

Auckland City FC play the first of two friendly matches tomorrow when they take on first division side Al Dhaid.

The Navy Blues have played friendly matches in this part of the world twice previously recording a 2-1 win over Al Farujah in November 2009 and a 0-0 draw with Al-Ittihad (UAE) in December 2017.

The second friendly match is against another first division opponent, this time United Sport FC, on December 6, before leaving Dubai for Jeddah the next day.

Ends

Extra Information

AC: 1. Conor TRACEY (GK), 2. Mario ILICH, 3. Adam MITCHELL, 4. Christian GRAY, 5. Timothy BOULET, 7. Cam HOWIESON (c), 8. Gerard GARRIGA, 9. Angus KILKOLLY, 10. Dylan MANICKUM, 11. Ryan DE VRIES, 12. Regont MURATI, 13. Nathan LOBO, 14. Jordan VALE, 15. Aidan CAREY, 16. Joe LEE, 18. Joe WALLIS (GK), 19. Liam GILLION, 20. Emiliano TADE, 21. Adam BELL, 22. Tong ZHOU, 23. Alfie ROGERS, 24. Sebastian CIGANDA (GK), 25. Michael DEN HEIJER, 26. Rayan TAYEB.

COACH: Albert RIERA
ASSISTANT: Ivan VICELICH
GK COACH: Enaut ZUBIKARAI
FITNESS: Adria CASALS
LOGISTICS: Keith COTON
PHYSIO: Matt PAYNE