Estighlal players during a training session at Al Wahda Stadium
Gulf News- Kuwait Club of Kuwait, Estighlal of
Iran and Nasaf Karsi from Uzbekistan have arrived in Abu Dhabi to begin
their last preparations for the quarter-finals of the Asian Clubs
Championship, hosted by Al Wahda Club from Wednesday, February 6.
The four teams will compete for two seats in the semifinals of the
continent's biggest clubs' championship facing the two top teams from the
East Zone for the 2002 Asian Clubs Champions.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have appointed Bahrain's Abdullah
Hamzeh as the tournament's match commissioner while Jordan's Mohammed Al
Sakran will be the referees inspector.
The referees appointed to officiate the matches are: Masayoshi Okada, from
Japan, Abdul Rahman Al Zaid from Saudi Arabia, Basel Hajjar from Syria and
Rungkiya Mongkol from Thailand.
The asssistant referees are: Nasir Merza Hassan from Bahrain, Mohammed
Ahmed Al Musawi from Oman, Ali Al Khalifi from Qatar and Allaberdyev
Bengech from Turkmenistan.
The teams will stay at the Abu Dhabi Armed Forces Officers Club Hotel and
train at the grounds of Al Wahda Club.
Al Wahda, led by their coach Jo Bonfrere, have started their preparations
on Saturday following a short rest for their nine international players
who have been on national duty with the UAE and Qatar in the Gulf Cup in
Saudi Arabia.
Al Wahda, staying at Hilton Abu Dhabi, had a complete training session and
the players have proved their readiness and eagerness not only to be one
of the two top teams but to win the group leadership.
The morale of the players were high. Their technical and administrative
staff have talked to them before the first training and explained the
importance of the competition and the importance of achieving excellent
results as the UAE's league champions.
It is widely believed that Estighlal from Iran will be the most serious
and difficult opponents for the home team in the competition and that was
one of the reasons why the hosts will meet them in the opener of their
task on Wednesday before the Iranians saw them playing against the other
two teams.
The team's striker Qatar's Mohammed Salim Al Enazy arrived and
participated in the team's first training session deserting the
celebrations in Doha with his country's team finishing second in the Gulf
Cup in Riyadh.
Al Enazy will spearhead Al Wahda's attacking force against Estighlal in
their first match alongside the other two professionals, Fawzi Al Ruwaisi
of Tunisia and Mohammed Conteh from Sierra Leone aided by their local
internationals Yasir Salim, Hayder Allo Ali, Basheer Saeed, Abdul Salam
Jumaa, Abdul Rahim Jumaa, Fahad Massoud, Abdulla Salim, Hussain Ali and
others.
The Al Wahda's training sessions are still kept behind closed doors and
are not expected to be open before the kick off. |