An Ismail Matar inspired UAE landed a maiden Arabian Gulf crown earlier this year on home soil, but the former Senegal coach is now ready for his side to step up this July in search of continental honours.

Vietnam will provide the opposition in the Group B opener, but despite the co-hosts being seen at the underdogs of the group behind defending champions Japan and Qatar, Metsu is expecting a tough test on Sunday against Alfred Riedl's side.

"This is a new tournament, the Gulf Cup has finished," said the Frenchman. "The Gulf Cup victory gave us a lot of confidence, but it is now six months after and I am looking to the future not back to the past.

"We won the Gulf Cup at home when the pressure was on the other teams. Now Vietnam are at home and they will get a lot of confidence from that.

"We have confidence from the Gulf Cup and also from the friendly games, but it is not enough as in football each game is separate.

"The weather will not be a factor as we have been training in Malaysia with the same weather, so adapting to Vietnam will not be a problem. The problem is playing the opening game against the hosts that will not be easy.

"They will have the fans behind them; we will be playing not only against the team but the fans who are very passionate. It is a very difficult first game; I would prefer them in the last game. But I am sure the players are ready to give their best."

Vietnam coach Riedl is confident his Group B underdogs can spring a surprise this weekend with the backing of the passionate home support.

Riedl has a fully fit squad at his disposal, helped by the coaches' decision to ban tackling from training, and is confident after recent friendly victories over Jamaica and Bahrain, the 2004 AFC Asian Cup semi-finalists.

"Japan are the favourites to win the group, but they are also one of the favourites to win the tournament. You would have to say that the second place in the group will be between Qatar and the UAE, but we are not sure what we can do against these teams," said Riedl.

"At the start we had some problems as we had five players who were injured, but since we arrived in Vietnam they have recovered and everybody is fit and ready to play the match against the UAE.

"We played Bahrain in a friendly, we won it by luck because it should have been a draw, but it proved we can do something against the strong teams."