Nowadays Muscat – who did not play in that game but watched in delight as the Socceroos recorded a historic triumph – is the Melbourne Victory manager.

Eriksson, who has travelled the highways and byways of world football in his long career, now finds himself in China where he is in charge of Shanghai SIPG.

And the duo are scheduled to meet up once more later this month, some 13 years after their first encounter, when Victory host Eriksson's side in an opening Asian Champions League feature that, its fair to say, will generate a bit more interest than many such matches have in the past.

The global football focus has been on China, and the extraordinary amounts of money Chinese clubs have been throwing around in the pre-season transfer window, where several well-known stars have traded in Euro sophistication for the frontier delights and fat wage packets of the Chinese Super League.

One happy byproduct of that, at least where the ACL is concerned, is that there should be a lot more media and public attention on a competition that has often struggled to gain traction in this country.

Muscat's side embarks on its fifth attempt at the tournament in late February, determined to make good the lessons it has learnt in the past and to finally make it past the qualifying stage for the first time in its history.

It won't be easy, as apart from Shanghai SIPG Victory face two previous ACL winners, Gamba Osaka, from Japan, and Korean club Suwon Bluewings, from Seoul.

At the same time as they are travelling internationally, Victory will be trying to retain their A-League crown, putting an enormous squeeze on resources as they cope with cutthroat league and finals matches here and long journeys to face quality opponents in Asia.

"It's a tall order," Muscat agrees. "But it's a challenge we will take on head on. It's where we wanted to be. In our last campaign it got to this time of the season and we relished the opportunity to play on this world stage."

He says Victory's previous failures, in which he was involved as both a player and a coach, do not play on his mind.

"The fact that we haven't progressed past the group stage is not the motivating factor for me. We were committed after winning all the domestic trophies last season that we want to progress in this tournament."

Muscat still has some time up his sleeve before he names the three visa players who he will include in his squad for the ACL, but he did rule out signing any Asian players to bolster numbers.

At least now he has a full squad available to choose from, with only injured skipper Carl Valeri unavailable, out for the season.

"We have had players away on international duty, players away through injury. We have always maintained that our squad is good enough. You need everyone available, and you need a big squad to choose from with the games coming thick and fast," he says.

"It's not if your time comes, it's when it comes. Everyone is going to get an opportunity. Both competitions are important to us.

"It will be unfortunate [for those who miss out on selection] but we have analysed the opposition thoroughly understanding where their strengths and weakness lie ... and we will select a squad that we think is best suited for us to get through the group."

Skipper Leigh Broxham believes the hype around Chinese football has positively affected the way players and fans see the Asian game now. "From when we first started to now, I think the players view the competition a lot differently to begin with and the hype around it is a bit bigger this year," he says.

"Players have come to this club this year knowing we are playing an ACL campaign and wanting to play in it. I think that's a big factor."

Broxham says Victory have learnt from their previous disappointments.

"Away and at home we were a lot smarter in the last campaign. There were a lot of lessons we took from last time. We were able to beat high-quality opposition ... the boys that played in the competition a few years ago have matured and are a lot better off from that campaign, and with the retention of the squad it is a big asset this year."

* Victory will have a full squad to choose from – bar Valeri – for the Melbourne derby at the weekend. There were injury clouds over Gui Finkler and Matthieu Delpierre, but both the Brazilian midfielder and the French defender are expected to be available for selection.