“it’s not enough to just get to the final” says Adelaide manager

By: 21 | November 4th, 2008

Prior to his Adelaide United club facing Gamba Osaka in the first leg of the ACL final, manager Aurelio Vidmar is feeling confident:

“I don’t think that we need too much motivation for these next two games. It’s the final.”

“I think our players have just risen every time they’ve come out for an ACL game so I’m very relaxed and very confident that we can do a good job tomorrow night.”

“I want the players to be nervous, I think it’s only natural to be nervous. But if they understand their roles, which they do, then it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Reaching a first big final like this is tremendous and all of Australia will obviously be backing us all the way and if we perform the way we have throughout the ACL, I can’t see any reason why we won’t be successful.”

“It’s been a dream run to get to this point but for our players, it’s not enough for them just to get to the final.”

“We need to take that next step and whether we’ve got that in us, we’ll see over the next 180 minutes but I certainly believe we have.”

“They are certainly the overwhelming favourites. Whether it’s added pressure on them, who knows? But they are certainly the favourites going into the final.”

“(Yasuhito) Endo is a classy player – there’s no question about that – but I think that they have another 15 or 20 classy players.”

“If you look at their two semi-final games, there’s no passengers at all on that team. They’re very quick, very strong, technically gifted and they compete – that’s what their strengths are.”

“I have a lot of respect for Gamba Osaka. They are a very, very good footballing side and very strong.”

“For a team to go to a place like Saitama and, from what I saw, beat Urawa Reds very convincingly shows that they are an extremely strong side.”