Syria coach Mohammed Kwid resigned from his position on Thursday.

ABU DHABI - Al Karama coach Mohammed Kwid remained upbeat over his side's chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League despite their 1-0 defeat at the hands of Al Wahda on Wednesday.

Ismail Matar set-up substitute Mohammed Al Shehhi and the young striker held his nerve before slotting past the hapless Mosab Balhouse to send the home fans into raptures.

Al Karama needed just a draw in the Group C clash at Al Nahyan stadium to progress but will now have to wait until their final match against Al Ahli to get the result they need.

The win moved Al Wahda, who will play Al Sadd in their final game, onto eight points to leave them just two behind Al Karama.

But Kwid is confident his side will get the result they need in their final game to secure their place in the next stage of the competition.

"I feel we can still qualify," he said.

"We are very strong at home and Al Ahli is already out of the competition and their morale will be really low.

"Obviously I would have loved to have secured our qualification in this game but it didn't happen.

"We didn't play well and missed a lot of chances early in the game. It certainly didn't help our cause. So we need to go back and work harder to win the next game, which I'm sure we can."

Al Wahda coach Ahmed Abdulhalim admitted he was pleased to see his tactical decision to make changes to his starting line-up pay off.

The former Egypt international left out midfielders Abdulraheem Jumaa and Brazilian Pinga as well as defender Omar Ali from the starting line-up, while Al Shehhi, who scored the late winner, was only on the pitch after Josiel was substituted due to an injury.

"We played well, particularly in the second half," added Abdulhalim.

"We created a few chances but most importantly we had more possession and when Abdulraheem and Pinga came on late the pressure was on Al Karama.

"They had too many players to watch and luckily for us we were able to break through their defence due to good work from our players.

"I'm not too sure what Al Karama will do against Al Ahli but we'll go all out to win our next game and keep our fingers crossed that the result goes out way in the other."