Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Kuwait international defender Hussain Fadhel will miss Al Qadsia’s AFC Cup Group D clash with Ravshan on Wednesday after he failed to recover from a hamstring injury sustained in AFC Asian Cup qualifying against Iran last week.
But while Fadhel will be sidelined, Mohammad Rashed will be available to return to the starting line-up after recovering from a knee injury and coach Mohammad Ebrahim is relishing the meeting with the side from Tajikistan.
“The match will be interesting as it is always the case with the encounters between clubs from Kuwait and Tajikistan and I hope that both sides can have a good performance and entertain the fans tomorrow,” he said.
“We lost the league title recently but I hope this will give us a big push to concentrate on the AFC Cup which is an important competition for us. We must win the game if we want to advance to the knockout stage.”
Al Qadsia are looking for a second win in a row in the 2013 AFC Cup after losing their opener in the competition against Group D leaders Al Shorta before notching up a victory over Jordan’s Al Ramtha.
Ravshan, meanwhile, are searching for their first point in their debut appearance in the AFC Cup and coach Garatali Mirahmadov is expecting another challenging encounter after seeing his side lose to Al Shorta and Al Ramtha.
“I believe that the two teams know each other well and there is nothing to hide,” he said. “We know Al Qadsia well and they know us for sure. However, we will try our best to have a good performance and get a positive result.”
Al Shorta lead Group D with back-to-back wins Al Qadsia and Ravshan and will be seeking to extend their advantage at the top of the standings with another three points against Al Ramtha.
Goalkeeper Mosab Balhous will miss the game due to a hamstring injury while a similar ailment has also sidelined Salah Chahrour and the team prepared for the game with a friendly meeting with the Syrian national team, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
“We are currently the leaders of the group and if we win against Al Ramtha, the doors for the next round will open,” said Al Shorta coach Mohamad Al Shaded.
“The Al Ramtha match will be harder than the one that we had against Al Qadsia but we’ll try our best to get a good result.
“We respect our opponents and we know that they have good players. We are currently not going through a good time due to the situation back at home but we proved that we can get good results and hopefully we can continue the good performance tomorrow.”
Al Ramtha come into the game off the back of a 2-0 win over Al Baqaa in domestic action on Friday and coach Belal Al Laham is expecting no surprises from the Syrians.
“We know Al Shorta very well as they are an organised side and they always show strong performances,” he said.
“We studied them well and we have good solutions to face them and hopefully we can get a good result which will strengthen our position in the group.
“We have forgotten the defeat against Al Qadsia and we are looking forward to getting back on track in the competition.”