Gerald believes that the Central Coast Mariners will be a formidable opponent, reflecting on Bali United’s experience with Melbourne Victory.
Bali United was not surprised by the draw for the 2023/24 AFC Cup group phase, and set a target of qualifying for the next round, even though they had to meet an Australian club.
Based on the lottery results, Bali United entered into Group G along with Australian club Central Coast Mariners, representatives of Malaysia Terengganu FC, and team from Philippines Stallion Laguna.
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The meeting with the Australian club is the second time for Bali United. In 2020, Bali United was slaughtered by Melbourne Victory with a landslide score of 5-0 in the Asian Champions League (LCA) play-off match.
Nevertheless, Bali United is not afraid of the potential opponents they will face. Manager Michael Gerald said Serdadu Tridatu had set a target of qualifying for the next round after failing in the group phase last season, despite acting as hosts.
“Actually, we have predicted that with the greatest chance we will meet clubs from the Philippines and Australia, because they have two representatives. We watched the match. It will be an interesting trip to Terengganu, Manila, and also New South Wales,” said Gerald through the channel Malayan Tiger YouTube.
“We played Melbourne Victory a few years ago and they are a strong club in Australia. We will try our best to advance to the next round.”
Gerald added that the trip did not have any influence on Bali United, because they are already familiar with this situation when they played a number of matches in League 1.
“Travel is not too much of a problem, because we also have a long way to go in the Indonesian League. So, this is not a problem for us. Maybe only the trip to Australia will take longer, but we are used to it,” Gerald added.
