PA Sport

MANAMA: A draw will be enough for Bahraini champions Al Muharraq to progress to the final of the AFC Cup when they face last year's beaten finalists Al Nejmeh in their second leg semi-final clash on Tuesday.

Muharraq go into the game as favourites after picking up a 2-1 win over the Lebanese side in Beirut three weeks ago, a result that means the Manama-based club can even afford to lose 1-0 and still meet the winners of the clash between Jordanian duo Al Wihdat and Al Faisaly later in the month.

The Bahraini giants will be buoyed by their victory in the Bahrain Super Cup a week ago, when they edged Al Nejmeh's namesake in Bahrain 3-2 to claim their first domestic silverware of the season.

"Our preparations for the match were normal," said Muharraq team manager Jamal Mohamad. "We are dealing with the match just like any other we have played in the competition."

"We hope that we can play well and qualify as we are aiming for victory and not any other result. The match will be difficult as we missed eight players during the preparation as they were with the Olympic team."

Bahrain sent their Olympic squad to face Australia in Sydney in last week's AFC Asian Cup qualifier, forcing many of the Muharraq squad to endure a gruelling long-haul flight to and from the 2-0 defeat to the Socceroos.

But they have the advantage going into the second leg thanks to second-half strikes from Fatai Babatunde and Jaycee John, who gave Muharraq the win after Ali Nassereddine had put Al Nejmeh in front.

The Lebanese side arrived in Bahrain on Sunday and they will be without the services of midfield dynamo Yehya Hachem, who was suspended and fined US$3000 by the Asian Football Confederation following his sending off in stoppage time in the first leg for violent conduct.

In Hachem's absence, Al Nejmeh's Algerian coach Mahmoud Qandouz will employ defender Ahmed Al Naamani as a defensive midfielder.

"Our preparations were good," said Qandouz. "We focused on the fitness levels of the players as that was the reason behind our defeat in the first leg."

"Each game has special conditions and we should be very careful in dealing with the match. The players should be committed tactically and they should not be looking to score quickly."

"I'm sure that we can win. Muharraq are an organized team but we lost the match in Beirut due to the lack of fitness. However, the situation now is different."