2023-09-17 22:34:48
The Sharjah Club football team will launch its campaign in the “21st” edition of the AFC Champions League, with a heavy-caliber confrontation against its host Al-Sadd of Qatar at 10 pm today, at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium at Al-Sadd Club in Doha in the group stage, within the second group, which includes Alongside them are the Jordanian Al-Faisaly and Uzbekistan Nassaf teams, while the return match will be held in Sharjah on November 27th.
Sharjah finished all its preparations for this big confrontation, as the team’s players left for Doha in high spirits and with great determination to excel and return with the three points.
In this match, Sharjah is looking forward to repeating the scenario of its great victory over the Iranian Tractor team in its home, 3-1, in the preliminary round, as this victory led it to qualify for the group stage.
In this confrontation, Sharjah is betting on its winning attacking cards represented by the Brazilian Caio Lucas and his compatriot Luan Pereira, whose contract the club recently renewed until 2027, along with the Guinean Ousmane Kamara, and the new Malian striker Moussa Marega, the former Saudi Al Hilal striker whom Cosmin is counting on to make the difference in this match. The match marked his first official appearance with the team.
In this match, “The King” is also relying on the experience and skill of his coach Cosmin in dealing with this tournament, through his previous experiences with the teams he previously led, especially Al Hilal Saudi Arabia.
Sharjah’s participation in this edition of the AFC Champions League comes as champion of the President’s Cup last season. On the other hand, Al Sadd is participating in this edition as champion of the Qatari League last season.
Al Sadd previously won this tournament twice, the first in 1989 and the second in 2011, noting that it was eliminated from the group stage of this tournament during the past two editions.
This time, which is the fifth for them, Sharjah hopes to go far in this tournament, after it had previously bid farewell to the tournament early, the last of which was when it bid farewell to the 2022 edition of the group stage, and its arrival to the quarter-finals in 2004 is its best achievement so far in the tournament. Asian.
This match is also a special confrontation between Sharjah’s Romanian coach Cosmin and Al Sadd’s Portuguese coach Bron Miguel, who assumed his current position last July.
Sharjah currently occupies ninth place in the UAE Professional League standings with three points, as it won in the first round over Ittihad Kalba 4-3, and lost to Al Wasl by three goals to one in the second round.
For his part, Portuguese coach Bruno Miguel Pinheiro, the coach of Al Sadd, who took over his position last July, succeeding his Spanish compatriot Juanma Leo, who moved to be assistant coach of Manchester City’s English coach Pep Guardiola, is seeking to go far with Al Sadd in the AFC Champions League.
Historically, Sharjah and Al Sadd may officially face each other on one occasion, during the Gulf Club Champions League Championship in 1991, and the match ended in a scoreless draw.
According to the tournament system, the first-placed clubs in the 10 groups qualify for the round of 16, along with the three best second-placed clubs in West Asia and the same from East Asia.
Al-Sadd includes a number of distinguished players, including Akram Afif, Hassan Al-Haydos, Algerian Baghdad Bounedjah, Ecuadorian striker Gonzalo Plata, Colombian Mateus Uribe, and Brazilian Paulo Otavio.
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