Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Beirut: Kuwait SC coach Mohammad Ebrahim is expecting already eliminated Nejmeh to put up a difficult challenge as the former Kuwait national team boss aims to guide his side closer to the knockout phase of the 2015 AFC Cup.
The three-time champions are second in Group D, behind already qualified Al Jaish from Syria, and a win over the Lebanese side coupled with Riffa’s failure to win against Al Jaish will see Kuwait SC (pictured) progress to the last 16.
But despite Nejmeh’s struggles in the competition – Theo Bucker’s side have only collected one point so far – Ebrahim is refusing to accept the clash represents a straight forward task.
“We are under big pressure as we want to qualify to the knockout stage,” said Ebrahim, whose side defeated reigning AFC Cup champions Qadsia SC in the Kuwaiti league on Friday.
“We must win against Nejmeh if we want to continue our good performances in the competition and hopefully we can achieve our target.
“The match will be very hard although we are playing against the team who are at the bottom of the group. Defeating Nejmeh will give us a big boost before the last match against Riffa and hopefully we can achieve our target and go back home with the three points.”
Nejmeh’s hopes will be hit by the loss of Khaled Takaji, who is suspended after being sent off during Matchday Four, while Abbas Atwi is out due to injury.
“Despite losing our chances in the competition, we will go into the match with great concentration in order to have a positive result and reflect the good image of our team,” said Bucker. “We will try our best to get a positive result after the recent poor results that we got.
“We recently lost the league title and we will try our best to save our season with the Lebanon Cup. We will be missing some of our players, but we are ready to achieve a good result to prepare well for the next matches in the league and the cup final.”
Riffa, meanwhile, know they need to win against group leaders Al Jaish to have any hope of joining the Syrian side in the last 16 and they will attempt to do so without the suspended Joao Luiz Ramirez.
“We are ready for the match as we prepared well in the previous period,” said coach Branko Karacic. “We know that the match will be very hard for us especially because our opponents will go into the match in good spirits after securing their place in the knockout stage.
“We need the three points in order to revive our chances to advance. We have great confidence that the players will win the match and hopefully we can get the maximum points from the last two matches in order to qualify from the group.”
Despite having already qualified, Al Jaish coach Anas Makhlouf guaranteed that his team would be taking the meeting with Riffa as seriously as any of the club’s previous group games as they seek to secure top spot.
“We have confidence in our players, who have promised to give their best in this important match,” he said. “Our opponents will be looking to get a good result and remain in contention. We know the capabilities of our opponents and we are ready for them.
“Despite securing our place in the knockout stage we want to have a good result and I asked the players to approach the match carefully and with good concentration, especially in the first half when Riffa will be looking to get a quick goal.”
Photo: WSG