The European champions arrived in Japan four days ago but were still struggling to adapt to the nine-hour time difference ahead of Thursday's clash with their CONCACAF counterparts.
With Chelsea also in the midst of a punishing schedule of fixtures and facing injury problems in key positions, interim manager Benitez could be forgiven for resting several of his stars against a side that should be beaten in any event.
But the Spaniard was determined to field as strong a line-up as possible at the Nissan Stadium in Yokohama.
Asked whether he would play a team of youngsters, he said: "No, I intend to win. I'll pick players to win the first game.
"You cannot think about the final until you've won the semi-final."
Benitez, who is managing at the competition for the third time, added of his squad: "My experience in this tournament is to assess them the day before, see how they feel and you can see some players are fresher than others.
"I don't have an idea now as to who I will play."
Benitez admitted his players had found it tough adjusting to the time difference, joking that his and Chelsea's main focus was "to try to sleep more than four hours".
He added: "We've tried to adapt to the time, the pitch, the ball - everything. It's all a bit new, but we've done everything we have to do."
