Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Chonburi: Despite his team's comfortable lead in their AFC Cup semi-final against Thai Premier League side Chonburi, Arbil coach Nizar Mahrous is taking nothing for granted ahead of the second leg at Chonburi Stadium on Tuesday.
The Iraqi side romped to a 4-1 win over the Thai club in Arbil earlier this month thanks to two goals by Amjed Radhi, an own goal by Suttinun Phukhom and a screamer by Saleh Sadeer.
But Mahrous is mindful of the performance of the Thai side against Syria's Al Shorta in the quarter-finals when they recovered from losing 2-1 at home in the first leg to win the return match 4-2 after extra-time in Amman to reach the last four.
"Chonburi are a great and strong team so even if we won 4-1 against them in our last game, we still have plenty of respect for their team," said the Syrian.
"My team and I can now forget about that last match against Chonburi in Iraq and we will play our best here tomorrow in order to reach the final."
Arbil have the chance to become the first Iraqi team to reach the final of an Asian continental club competition since Al Zawra'a met Japan's Shimizu S-Pulse in the 2000 Asian Cup Winners' Cup.
While Chonburi have played four league matches since the first leg of the semi-finals, Arbil have not been in action as their league season ended in August.
While the team only arrived in Thailand on Sunday after a short training camp in Malaysia, Mahrous is not concerned about the fitness of his players and their acclimatising to the humid conditions in South-East Asia.
"I really don't mind the weather in Thailand. But that's why we had some practice in Malaysia before we arrived here," he said.
The winners of the match will host either Kuwait Sports Club or Ettifaq of Saudi Arabia in the final on November 3.