|
|
|
|
| AFC Cup |
|
|
|
| Beware Al Nahda, warns Sharida |
 |
| Muharraq and Al Nahda last met at the GCC Champions League in Qatar with the Bahrain outfit winning 2-0. (AFP) |
MANAMA – Muharraq coach Salman Sharida has warned his team not to underestimate Oman's Al Nahda when the sides meet in the first leg of the 2008 AFC Cup semi-finals at Bahrain National Stadium on Tuesday.
Both sides met in the 2008 GCC Champions League group stage, where Muharraq prevailed 2-0, but Sharida believes the match on Tuesday against a much-improved AL Nahda will be a very different affair.
"We know Al Nahda very well but this doesn't mean that we will meet the same team that we defeated in the GCC Champions League," said Sharida. "They have developed since that game and they qualified to the final four of the AFC Cup.
"We must be aware that Al Nahda are not an easy team and we should be cautious from any surprises which could affect us before the second leg."
Muharraq, who reached the 2006 AFC Cup final before losing to Jordan’s Al Faisaly, qualified for the final four of the competition thanks to a 7-1 aggregate win against Malaysia's Kedah and Sharida will be hoping his side can secure the upper hand in the first leg once again.
"I hope that we can have a good advantage on Tuesday because this will help us in the second leg," he said.
"However, Al Nahda recovered from a defeat in the first leg of the quarter-finals and qualified with a good win in Oman."
Sharida is likely to face a selection problem between the posts as goalkeeper Sayed Mohamed Jaafar was injured playing with Bahrain national team. He is expected to be replaced by Abdulla Al Kaabi who played in the quarter-finals against Kedah.
Al Nahda’s Serb coach Milosav Radenovic has stressed to his team the importance of progressing to the final after qualifying for the last four with a 4-2 aggregate win over Singapore Armed Forces.
"Reaching the semi-finals is great and we must not lose this chance of qualifying for the final of the competition," said Radenovic.
"We have studied Muharraq very well and both teams know each other.
"Muharraq are a tough team and they have a lot of good players including the top scorer of the tournament Leandson Silva. However, we will try our best to get a positive result on Tuesday before the return match in Nizwa.
"The players are in a good mood after our comeback win in the quarter-finals and personally I think that the previous defeat against Muharraq will not happen again.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
