MELBOURNE, Australia -- Although Australian clubs have not had much joy in Asian football's premier club competition in recent times, Melbourne City are promising to buck the trend in this season's AFC Champions League Elite.
At the halfway mark of the league stage, City are 7th in the 12-team East region -- with the top eight teams qualifying for the round of 16.
After losing their opening two matches of the tournament, City have done well to get their campaign back on track with consecutive victories over Buriram United and Machida Zelvia.
As things stand, their destiny very much remains in their own hands as they look to be the first A-League outfit to reach the tournament's knockout stage since local rivals Melbourne Victory did so in 2020.
City will enjoy home advantage when they resume their continental exploits on Tuesday, hosting the Malaysia Super League's Johor Darul Ta'zim at AAMI Park.
And while, previously, Australian teams would have been regarded as firm favourites when coming up against Malaysian opposition, City coach Aurelio Vidmar is aware that will be far from the case locking horns against formidable opponents who are actually second on the table at the moment -- behind only Japanese giants Vissel Kobe.
"I think Johor, over the last ten years, have won ten or 11 titles in a row so they're extremely strong," Vidmar replied in Monday's pre-match news conference, when asked by ESPN about his assessment on the threat that JDT will pose.
"I think now is their third campaign in the Champions League [Elite] so they've learned from their first campaign, the second one, and also this one.
"You can see through the campaigns how they've grown. And now they're winning games that they previously found difficult.
"Obviously, the experience of the team helps because most of them -- and there are some very, very good players in the team -- have played big games.
"So I think it's great. I think they're doing a fantastic job domestically and they're doing a great job in the Champions League, so it's another nice test for us."
Vidmar is no stranger to Southeast Asian football having had stints in the Thai League 1 with BG Pathum United and Bangkok United, as well as current Singapore Premier League champions Lion City Sailors.
Over the past few years, such teams have spared almost no expense in their quest to scale greater heights -- with the Sailors even reaching the final of last season's second-tier AFC Champions League Two, seeing off Sydney FC in the last four in the process.
With the A-League now only guaranteed one automatic ACL Elite berth -- the same as Thailand and Malaysia -- Vidmar recognises that Australian football has to be wary not to suddenly find themselves lagging behind counterparts they were once well ahead of.
"I think, in world football now, there are no easy games," he added.
"You see that Southeast Asian countries are investing a hell of a lot of money in their football programs now. And they continue to grow.
"Here in Australia, we also have to be mindful that we continue to do that as well, or we will fall behind."
For now, however, City are on course to achieve what none of their compatriots have in the past four years.
And defender Kai Trewin reveals it was something they had talk about long before a ball was even kicked this campaign.
"That was something that we spoke about on the first day of preseason," the Australia international said.
"One of our goals of the season was to get out of the [league stage] and we know what we need to do.
"Like 'Viddy' [Vidmar] said, the first couple of games, we took time to get used to the quality and the speed but I think now you can see from our last two performances that we've caught up and know what to expect.
"We'll be ready tomorrow night."