Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Zerqa: Despite enjoying a perfect record in the five matches that they have played in Jordan in this season’s AFC Cup, Al Shorta coach Tita Valeriu wants his team to avoid any complacency when they meet Thailand’s Chonburi in the second leg of their AFC Cup quarter-final on Wednesday.
As a result of the troubled situation in Syria, the Damascus-based club have been forced to play all of their AFC Cup home matches in this year’s competition in neighbouring Jordan.
But playing on the road does not seem to have fazed the Syrian league champions, who have won seven of their eight games so far in the competition including a come-from-behind victory at Chonburi last Tuesday.
The 2-1 win in Thailand means that the tournament debutants only need to avoid conceding more than one goal at the Prince Mohammad International Stadium on Wednesday to reach the semi-finals.
But despite his team’s strong position, Valeriu expects a tough test from the Thai side who are appearing in the AFC Cup quarter-finals for the third time in four years although they have yet to reach the last four.
"Despite holding a good lead after the first leg, we still have a tough match to play tomorrow regardless of what happened in the previous match,” said the Romanian, who led another Syrian side, Al Ittihad, to victory in the 2010 AFC Cup.
“We have a good chance but we must concentrate strongly in order to advance to the next stage.
"Chonburi are a strong team and they have good players who performed very well in the first leg. They have good pace and they could have scored more than one goal in last week’s match if we had given them the chance."
Valeriu has called for his side to take charge of the return match and to get the goals which would ease their passage through to the semi-finals.
"We will be looking to score in order to seal our victory early in the match. However, we will also place a strong emphasis on defending as well as we did in our previous match,” he said.