Auckland City arrived in Dubai today facing a tight turnaround before a tough Fifa Club World Cup warm-up clash against Uzbekistan on Friday morning (NZT).
Auckland forward Emiliano Tade admitted to being a fatigued following the 19,000km journey but said the friendly match is already whetting the appetite.
"We're a bit tired after a long trip but it's good we did two sessions today like we would normally do," Tade said. "It helps to recover the body and start developing towards our best performance."
The team will go into a three-day training camp ahead of the encounter with Uzbekistan, before backing up against Moghreb Tetouan on December 10 in the Club World Cup playoffs.
"It's a big game, it's huge," Tade said. "Probably the biggest game of our lives for some of our players."