"It's true no team (from CONCACAF) has ever reached the final," he told reporters in Toyoya on the eve of Monterrey's quarterfinal against Japanese champions Kashiwa Reysol.

"We are highly motivated and focused on making it to the final. We know it will be extremely difficult to win two games to get there but we have the ability to do it." Beating J-League winners Kashiwa on Sunday is one thing — overcoming South American Libertadores Cup holders Santos, and containing their prolific striker Neymar, quite another.

However, Perez has experienced surprise results at the tournament, being part of the Necaxa side who beat Real Madrid to win the third-place playoff in Brazil in 2000.

"Before we think about Santos we have to be careful about Kashiwa," said Perez. "We play a good possession game and defend well so we will look to use this to our advantage." Reysol warmed up with an easy 2-0 win over New Zealand amateurs Auckland City in the opening game of the seven-team competition, a match watched by a sparse crowd of 18,000.

European and Spanish champions Barcelona join the fray, along with Santos, at the semi-final stage after a crunch visit to Real Madrid this weekend.

African champions Esperance of Tunisia meet Qatar's Al Sadd in Sunday's other quarterfinal. The tournament final is on Dec. 18 in Yokohama.

"Kashiwa are a very organized and disciplined team," Monterrey coach Victor Vucetich said. "We expect a very tough game." Reysol have suffered an injury scare with right-back Hiroki Sakai in danger of missing the game after straining knee ligaments against Auckland.

Kashiwa's Brazilian coach Nelsinho is one upset win away from facing Santos, the club he was sacked as manager from in 2005 after a 7-1 hammering by Corinthians.

"Monterrey are CONCACAF champions so they're a quality side," he said. "We need to concentrate on beating Monterrey. Then we can talk about Santos."