Tampines Rovers' coach Akbar Nawas has warned his players not to look beyond their AFC Cup quarterfinal against Bengaluru FC on Wednesday night.
The first leg played on Sept. 14 saw the Indian champions seal a 1-0 victory. But should the S.League giants turn things around in the second leg, they can look forward to a clash in the last four with reigning champions Johor Darul Ta'zim, who knocked out South China on Tuesday night.
Despite the obvious attraction of going up against the Southern Tigers, Akbar knows the danger of looking too far ahead.
"I wouldn't want to think of that as of now, wanting to play JDT," Akbar said.
"We might want to think we can play JDT, but if we don't do our job [against Bengaluru], we will not play in the semifinals.
"We need to step up from the start of the game because we're definitely not happy [with the first leg result] so we must not take Bengaluru lightly."
#TRFC vs @bengalurufc Press Conference l 2016 AFC Cup Quarter-Finals Second Leg pic.twitter.com/xbH9xH44mE
- Tampines Rovers FC (@MightyStags) September 20, 2016
Akbar was also quick to diffuse preseason predictions that Tampines would be picking up all silverware before them, with a strong squad including ex-Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant, and Singapore internationals like Hafiz Sujad, Fazrul Nawaz and Yasir Hanapi.
"Can anyone guarantee us a win in a game? No," he said. "But what we can do is to influence the outcome.
"The pressure is definitely there, no matter how much we say we have national players in Tampines, even if we have [Lionel] Messi in our squad, we will still face this kind of pressure."
An away goal for Bengaluru would mean that Tampines would have to score three times to be sure of advancing to the last four.
Akbar added: "The players must remain composed. Yes, it is a 1-0 score line. And if they score an away goal, it'll be an uphill task to score three, but we must stay composed.
"I don't think it's an issue that we haven't scored in the last two games, and I would like the players to start doing so."
Should Tampines get past Bengaluru, they will make the AFC Cup semifinals for the first time in their history.