Race for AGC quarters berths hots up

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

Al Wasl will look to book a quarter-final berth with victory over leaders Al Wahda in the penultimate round match of the Arabian Gulf Cup (AGC) on Friday.

The day one of the Matchweek six of the Arabian Gulf Cup features three matches as Al Wasl face AlWahda at Nahyan Stadium, Shabab Al Ahli meet Khorfakkan at the Alawir and Al Jazira take on Al Dhafra.

Al Wasl coach Laurentiu Reghecampf predicted a tough game against Al Wahda, who have already qualified for the knockout stage with 10 points from four matches with three wins and one draw.

“The game against Al Wahda is going to be tough one and we need to win to go through to the next round. Both teams know each other very well and fact that we played few days back add to excitement,” said Reghecampf.

The race for a quarters berth has heated up in the Group B as one point separate three teams. Fujairah are on the second spot with seven points from four games with wins, one loss and draw while Sharjah are at third with six points, one above Al Wasl, having played one game more.

Al Wasl are in the fourth with six points but they have played one game lesser than Sharjah, that gives them an edge over their nearest rivals.

Al Wasl have won two and lost two of their four matches so far. They face a litmus test in their next out against Al Wahda, who are on the top of the group.

Al Wasl playmaker Shebab Ahmad said: “We are facing Al Wahda on their home ground and we need to focus from the kick-off to the final whistle in order to achieve a positive result.

The rule of the tournament allowed to play for the first team and I will do my best to live up to the expectation.”

Meanwhile, Sharjah who are sitting on the top of the table in the league, failed to create the same magic in the competition for the Cup.

They started their campaign with two consecutive losses and bounced with Ajman’s 5-1 rout before going on to beat Shabab Al Ahli in the Arabian Gulf Super Cup, traditional curtain raiser for the league.

However, they failed to get their winning momentum going in the Arabian Gulf Cup despite a stellar campaign in the league and were beaten by lowly Ittihad Kalba in the previous round after two consecutive victories.

Sharjah will host Fujairah on Saturday with an eye on the last eight berth. However, Sharjah coach Abdulaziz Al Anbari declared the competition as wide open.

“All the teams have a chance to qualify for the knockout stage. But we will stick to the same policy of giving a chance to the players, who have not got the chance to play in the league,” said Anbari.

“Ricardo is suffering from a minor injury and we will rest him against Fujairah. The rest of the foreign players will decide later if they will participate in the match,” he informed.

Sharjah’s Marcus Meloni thanked the coach for giving him an opportunity to play against Fujairah and also vowed to go full throttle.