Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Muharraq coach Isa Al Hamdani has targeted early qualification for the AFC Cup Round of 16 as his side prepares to take on Syria’s Al Jaish in Matchday Three of the 2016 tournament on Wednesday.
The Bahraini side lead Group D by three points from Al Jaish after winning both of their opening fixtures in the tournament so far and Al Hamdani is confident his team can continue their impressive start to the campaign.
“We have prepared very well and we want to give a good performance in the match in order to win and get the three points. This will help us get closer to the knockout stage,” said the coach, whose side drew 2-2 with fellow 2016 AFC Cup competitors Al Hidd in domestic action on Sunday.
“We want to get our third win in the competition and try to get one of the tickets from the group as soon as possible so we can concentrate on the local league. Our task will not be easy because we are playing against one of the strongest teams in the competition.”
The Syrians are in second place having played just once after their Matchday Two game with Palestine’s Ahli Al Khalil was postponed and coach Ahmad Al Shaar believes his team can follow up their opening day win with another victory.
“There is no doubt that the match against Muharraq will be very hard as we will be facing a strong team. They have recently won the local cup which means that they will go into the match with a lot of confidence,” he said.
“We came to Manama with one ambition and well will be fully concentrating in order to win the match. We haven’t played any matches in the last ten days but we will be physically and mentally ready for the Muharraq game.”
Ahli Al Khalil, meanwhile, will be without suspended Ahmed Mahanjna when they take on Oman’s Fanja in the day’s other game in Group D after the defender was sent off in the club’s opening game against Muharraq.
“We made the necessary preparations for the match against Fanja and our main goal is to get the three points and get back on track after losing against Muharraq,” said coach Ayman Sandouqa.
“We will be missing one of our key players through suspension while some others might not be able to recover from injures. However, I’m confident that our players will give their best and try to get a positive result.”
Fanja’s preparations for the game were hit by a 4-2 defeat to Sur in the Oman league on Saturday, continuing a run of form that has also seen Lotfi Jbara’s side lose both of their AFC Cup clashes so far.
“We want to make a good comeback after losing the first two matches and hopefully we can get a positive result against Ahli Al Khalil,” Jbara said. “We suffered from the heavy schedule especially in the league and this has affected our players.
“We don’t have a lot of information about our opponents but we know that Palestinian football has improved in recent years whether at club or national team level and this means that we will not underestimate our opponents.”
Photo: Lagardère Sports