Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Muscat: Syrian champions Al Jaish begin their bid for a second consecutive appearance in the knockout stage of the AFC Cup against Oman’s Fanja on Wednesday in Group D.
Al Jaish won the inaugural AFC Cup title in 2004 but failed to progress beyond the group stage in their next three appearances.
But last year Al Jaish won Group D with an unbeaten record before eventually losing in the quarter-finals to Kuwait’s Qadsia SC.
“The match will be tough for the two sides especially because it is the opening match in the competition,” said Al Jaish coach Ahmad Al Shaar after his side arrived in Muscat on Monday.
“I hope that we will have good performance and that we can convert the chances that we will create into goals.
“We prepared with two friendly matches as the league is currently stopped. We know our opponents are a strong team as we have previously met them in the competition but hopefully we can get a victory in the match.”
Fanja failed qualify for the AFC Cup last year after losing in the play-offs to Turkmenistan’s Ahal FC, but secured their place in 2016 after claiming a runners-up finish in the Oman Professional League.
“We have a heavy schedule this season as we are playing a match every three days. We will play against Al Jaish and two days later we have a cup match which means that we are under big pressure,” said Fanja coach Lotfi Jbara, whose side beat Sahar 1-0 last Friday.
“Al Jaish is one of the strongest teams in Syria although we don’t have a lot of information about them. We want to win the match and we are confident that our players will get a positive result.”
Meanwhile, 2008 champions Muharraq go into their first 2016 AFC Cup clash with Palestinian side Ahli Al Khalil buoyed by a comprehensive 6-1 win over Al Najmah on Friday that booked Isa Al Saadoon’s side a place in the final of the Bahrain King’s Cup.
"We didn't have a lot of time to prepare after the last match against Al Najmah,” said Al Saadoon. “It is really important to have a good start in the competition by winning the match tomorrow. This will give us a big push.
“We were under a lot of pressure due to our heavy schedule but our last match in the league was postponed and this was good for us. I hope that the players will give their best in the competition in order to win the title for the second time in our history.”
Ahli Al Khalil arrived in the Bahraini capital Manama on Monday and go into the game having secured a place in the quarter-finals of the Palestine Cup last week with a 6-0 win over Al Sila.
“This is the first match that we have in the group stage of the competition, so I hope we can have a good start. But we know the match will be very difficult because we are meeting one of the best teams in Bahrain,” said coach Ayman Sandouqa.
“I hope that we can get good results in our away matches starting from tomorrow’s game. Muharraq is a well known team and they have previously won the title but in football everything is possible.”
Photo: Lagardere Sports