Inaugural AFC Cup winners in 2004, Al Jaish reached the quarter-final stage in 2015 and 2016, but since the introduction of the Zonal knock-out stages in 2017, the Syrians have not progressed past the group stage.

Both sides looked to improve on their most recent AFC Cup campaigns. Al Ahed had been eliminated at the same stage last year whereas Al Wehdat suffered the same fate in 2017 and missed out on the 2018 AFC Cup.

Al Wehdat came racing out of the blocks, and within three minutes, they had their first sight of goal.

The four teams battle for a ticket to the AFC Cup final, starting with the first leg of the semi-finals, where Al Wehdat of Jordan host Lebanon's Al Ahed on Monday, while Syria's Al Jaish play Jordan's Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

The return fixtures take place the following week with the two winners facing off in the two-legged Zonal Final in September and October. The West Asia champions get a ticket to the 2019 AFC Cup final.

We look at four players - one from each of the semi-finalists - who could prove to be the difference-makers.

The two-legged semi-finals will kick off on Tuesday and Wednesday with the return legs the following week. The two victors will progress to the ASEAN Zonal Final a month later to determine who is the 2019 AFC Cup's Southeast Asia champion.

We look at four players - one from each of the semi-finalists - who could prove to be the difference-makers.

These days 2017 ASEAN Zonal champions and 2018 ASEAN Zonal runners-up Ceres Negros are considered to be one of the strongest teams in the AFC Cup.

However, back at the beginning of the 2017 AFC Cup campaign they were not counted among the contenders to be crowned inaugural ASEAN champions, with most looking to 2015 AFC Cup winners JDT, the Southern Tigers, as a likelier candidate to be crowned Southeast Asian kings.

While the qualification race remains ongoing in the Central, South and East Zones, the-AFC.com looks back at some of the key statistics from the six completed groups.