It is largely a trip into the unknown as, having been placed in separate groups, Waitakere are yet to face Amicale and Marshall admits he knows little about the abilities of the Reds.
“We don’t know a lot about them at all. I’ve had some brief verbals on them from a number of different people that I trust in the game and we have analysed some video footage over the last couple of days,” he says.
“What we know is that they have some technical talent, there’s no question about that. They’re maybe not quite as organised as the Tahitian side but they’ve got some speed, particularly up front.”
The Waitakere boss knows complacency must not be allowed to creep into the mindset of his charges.
“We’re going to have to be right up for it because they’ll be a test, as they were for Ba. They missed a penalty in the first ten minutes of that match in Fiji and then Ba came back into it but, had they scored the penalty, it might have been a different game.”
Marshall feels his team’s prospects of taking a positive result back to Fred Taylor Park for the return leg in a week’s time are likely to rest in their sharpness in front of goal.
“We’re going to have to defend well but then we’re also going to have to take our chances when they’re presented to us,” he says.
“We are a team that creates its fair share of chances over the course of the 90 minutes and as long as we are taking those chances we’re generally okay because we’ve got a pretty good defensive record.”
Finishing top of Group B has presented Waitakere with the advantage of playing the away leg of the semi-finals first but Marshall thinks any benefits gained by this are not particularly significant.
“I think it is an advantage but it’s only a small one. You still have to play both games and one is away and one is at home. If you prepare well for both of them it shouldn’t make too much difference but it does give you that little bit of an edge,” he says.
“If you can go away and get a result then you’re coming back home and are on your own ground. There’s a few advantages to it but they are only minimal I would suggest.”
The match take place today in Port Vila from 3pm local time (4pm New Zealand time).
Live streaming of the OFC Champions League semi-finals is available free of charge on the OFC Live Youtube channel at youtube.com/OFCfootball and a direct link will be provided via the OFC website at oceaniafootball.com

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