MIAMI, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Al Ahly is aiming to reach the knockout stages of the FIFA Club World Cup despite being drawn in one of the tournament's most difficult groups, manager Jose Riveiro said on Friday.
The Egyptian side will face Inter Miami in the competition opener at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday before confronting Porto and Palmeiras in the group stage.
"We don't have a team of superstars but we have really good players with a lot of experience and a huge background in terms of titles," Riveiro told a news conference.
"We are full of ambition and in this competition we are looking at trying to get to the next stage, like everybody else. Nobody is coming to this competition to get eliminated and we are no exception. We are going to try to put everything into the first game to improve our prospects over the next week."
Riveiro has had little time to prepare his team for the tournament, having replaced Marcel Koller late last month.
But he said he would not make major changes to a formula that underpinned the club's 2020-21, 2022-23 and 2023-24 CAF Champions League triumphs.
"We have had 10 or 11 training sessions and we're trying to give continuity to all the things that we were doing well under Marcel," the Spaniard said.
"We are trying to help some players do things better and we're looking at things that we can do in tournaments like this to get better results. But we know that we don't have enough time for grand transformations."
He said his players were excited and motivated to compete against Inter Miami's eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi.
"He is a player who can turn a game at any given moment," Riveiro said. "His greatest skill has always been his vision of the game and that has not changed. He is not a coach but he guides the players around him, he's surrounded with young talent." ■
