Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Manama: Al Hidd coach Chokri Bejaoui wants his players to forget about their performance in the first leg of their AFC Cup quarter-final against Qadsia Sports Club and focus on the return match on Tuesday as the Bahraini side eye a place in the last four on their debut in the competition.
While Bejaoui felt that his team made too many errors in their first meeting with the Kuwaiti club, they returned to Manama with a creditable 1-1 draw after substitute Nawaf Al Khaldi struck early in the second half to cancel out Bader Al Mutwa's opening goal at the Peace & Friendship Stadium.
Al Khaldi's strike gives Al Hidd a precious away goal and a slight edge for the second leg at the National Stadium as they try to become the first Bahraini club to reach the semi-finals since Riffa in 2010.
"The decisive match will be on Tuesday because even if we had managed a positive result in the first leg, things would not have been settled," said the Tunisian.
"Winning tomorrow means that we will qualify for the semi-finals and the players know that. We should forget the first leg because we made many mistakes and we must correct those mistakes.
"Our opponents are not a bad team and they have improved recently especially their foreign players. They now have better control and they can build good attacks while they have many good players which mean that they are strong team."
Qadsia must score at least one goal in Manama to keep alive their hopes of a first AFC Cup title and they warmed up for the match by beating Al Fahaheel 3-0 in their opening match of the Kuwaiti league season last Friday.
The Kuwaiti club are one of the most experienced teams in the competition with five consecutive appearances in the knockout stage and berths in the final in 2010 and 2013 although they have still yet to lift the title.
But despite Al Hidd's lack of experience at this level, Qadsia coach Antonio Puche remains wary of the Bahraini club, who also clashed with Qadsia during the group stage, losing 2-0 in Kuwait City but winning 3-2 in Manama.
"We will be playing against a team who we know well as we know their capabilities," said Puche, who will welcome back defender Khalid Ibrahim after he completed a one-game suspension.
"Al Hidd rely a lot on counter attacks while we will be playing with an attacking style right from the start of the match in order to seal victory.
"The weather in Bahrain is similar to Kuwait and so it will not affect us at all. We will not make any changes for our team tomorrow because this match will be very hard as Al Hidd are a good team and they play well at home."
Photo: WSG
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