Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Arbil: Kelantan coach Bojan Hodak is confident that his exhausted side can get the result that they need on Tuesday when they face Iraqi league champions Arbil in the first leg of the AFC Cup quarter-finals at the Francouse Al Hareeri Stadium.
Kelantan will be missing the services of Nigerian defender Obinna Nwaneri who is suspended after he was sent off for a professional foul in the Round of 16 match against Terengganu.
Lebanese striker Mohamad Ghaddar, who scored seven times so far as Kelantan finished top of AFC Cup Group H six points clear of second-placed Arema Indonesia, is also out with a thigh injury and he did not travel with the team to Iraq.
After securing their passage to the Malaysia Cup quarter-finals with a 6-1 hammering of Malaysian Super League rivals Terengganu last Friday, the AFC Cup debutants set off on a long and exhausting trip to the Middle East and having been wary of the security situation in Iraq, Hodak was pleasantly surprised at the welcome that his team received there.
"We had some concerns about the situation in Arbil before coming but it's really a good situation here," said the Croatian. "The match will be very important and very hard at the same time as Arbil are one of the top teams in the competition.
"We had a long trip from Malaysia as we had to travel for more than 30 hours. The long trip affected our players and they were really tired when we arrived on Sunday.
"However despite all of that, I'm fully confident that our players will be able to get a good result in the match. That should make things easier for us before the second leg which we will play at our home in Kota Bahru in front of our fans."
While Kelantan are making their first appearance in the AFC Cup this year, they have done well so far in the competition, topping Group H after suffering only one defeat in six games and then eliminating Terengganu 3-2 in the Round of 16 in May.