Drawn alongside Auckland City FC, Amicale and host club Nadi, AS Dragon has its work cut out to qualify for the home and away semi-finals Roche says.
“The first game is always important – you have to put your stamp on the group and state your intentions. But we have the Group of Death. All the teams will be very tough to play.
“We know it will be difficult with all the teams having good players, especially Amicale, who have signed a lot of players. But I think it will be a good game,” Roche says.
AS Dragon missed out on last year’s semi-finals after two draws with Auckland City FC and AS Mont Dore.
That despite beating and drawing with the eventual winners.
But Dragon’s brave showing in 2013 doesn’t count for too much the Tahitian shot-stopper says.
“We don’t come to Fiji with reassurances about last year’s achievements.
“We’ve changed and so have Auckland City FC. We know our key points but what we can draw on is that we’ve beaten Auckland City FC before so we have some self-belief,” he says.
On the domestic front, AS Dragon surrendered their league title to AS Pirae with a roller-coaster season marked by inconsistency.
“We’ve had a hard season. I think we’ve had a lot of bad luck. It was unlucky but we are probably the team in Tahiti that hit the post the most this season in our domestic competition.
“Its been hard for us losing Raimana Lee Fung Kuee to another club and Henri Caroine returned to New Caledonia and there have been injuries so its been a difficult. But we’ve played quite good football and we want to keep the ball moving aggressively,” he says.
AS Dragon can call on plenty of international experience from within their own ranks to boost their hopes of topping their group.
Roche, Teaonui Tehau, Nicolas Vallar, Jonathan Tehau and Alvin Tehau were all part of Tahiti’s FIFA Confederations Cup campaign in Brazil last year.
Does Roche believe that means they need fear nobody in the competition? If he does, Roche is not one for talking it up.
“I won’t say that we don’t fear our opponents. You always have to fear something. Firstly, yourself,” he says,”You’re the weakest point. The first fight is always with yourself then it is with your opponents.
“What we did gain from Brazil was a good experience and one that can bring confidence. We know how to manage that kind of high end competition now.
“We’re not arrogant or big-headed or saying things like, ‘Yes, we played in Brazil, so we don’t fear anybody’, because that’s not true.
“But we know how to deal with high level competition and how to focus and prepare better,” he says.
Roche, an ambassador for Tahitian football with his magnanimous and modest attitude, also took time to spare a thought for the people of the Solomon Islands and the Solomon Warriors football team.
“Its wonderful news Solomon Warriors can come to Fiji for the OFC Champions League because they’re facing such difficult times back home.
“The whole AS Dragon team is sad for what has happened in the Solomon Islands but we’re happy that Solomon Warriors are going to come to Fiji and compete with all the other teams.
“They face AS Pirae the Tahitian champions, so this is good news for Oceania and good news for the competition,” he says.
And finally, has Roche pondered the possibility of Dragon facing Pirae at some stage in the OFC Champions League?
“We have a rivalry in the Tahitian championship, for sure, but now we’re two teams in the same competition, we’re two brothers fighting for the same flag and for Tahitian football,” he says.
AS Dragon opens its OFC Champions League campaign on Tuesday 8 April when they tackle Amicale FC at Churchill Park in Lautoka.
Ends

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