Full of belief from a six-game winning streak and with youngsters adding energy, Adelaide United forward Kusini Yengi believes the Reds have nothing to fear in their A-League Men's semi-final clash with Melbourne City.
The back-to-back premiers boast a star-studded line-up including Socceroos Jamie Maclaren, Mathew Leckie, Connor Metcalfe and Marco Tilio and are coming into the first leg of the semi-final at Coopers Stadium on the back of more than a week's rest.
Adelaide, by contrast, are backing up after defeating Central Coast 3-1 in Sunday's elimination final, a game where Yengi scored his first goal in front of a home crowd.
Nonetheless the 23-year-old says Adelaide are eager to expose any fatigue City may still have from a gruelling April schedule that included six Asian Champions League games in Thailand.
"You look at their line-up, they've got Socceroos all over the place," Yengi said.
"They're meant to be the best players in Australia.
"Their whole team, everywhere, they do a lot of attacking but they've played a lot of football in the last couple of months so we'll see how the game goes.
"We're up for the fight and believe we can beat anyone."
Adelaide also hold the upper hand over City when it comes to matches in South Australia.
Despite their recent dominance of the competition, City haven't won at Coopers Stadium since a 2-0 victory in December, 2018.
The last time these teams met was in February when a Mohamed Toure strike secured a 2-1 win for Carl Veart's team.
And for all of City's star power, Yengi believes the form of Adelaide captain Craig Goodwin can inspire the Reds, with the winger scoring one and setting up another in the win over the Mariners to continue his excellent 2021-22 campaign.
"He's our star player. He's our Socceroo," Yengi said.
"We need him to deliver and he's been delivering all season.
"It's great, when he's performing the team does so well."
