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Abu Dhabi: When Al Wahda host Al Ahli from Saudi Arabia in the AFC Champions League tonight, players of both teams realise it is more of a contest to salvage pride.
Both teams are yet to win a single match in the competition and are on two points each from three matches. Losing tonight simply means bidding goodbye to any hopes of reaching the second round from Group C which is led by Al Karama of Syria, with seven points, as they host Al Sadd, from Qatar, now second with four points.
While both teams are going through a rough patch in their domestic league competitions, they have showed better standards recently in the continental competition - realising that it is the only path remaining to end this season honourably.
Al Wahda, facing relegation threat in the UAE league, will miss the services of their defenders Omar Ali, serving one- match suspension and Basheer Saeed because of injury. The good news will be the expected return of Tawfig Abdul Razzag and Abdul Rahim Jumaa to midfield.
"The match will be tough despite the fact that both teams have almost lost the chance of promotion to the second half. They will go all out to salvage their pride as two famous teams in the continent," Abdullah Saleh, the manager of Al Wahda, said.
Egyptian caretaker coach Ahmad Abdul Halim is expected to field a second string line-up tonight bearing in mind his most crucial league encounter against their traditional rivals, Al Jazira, on Sunday.
The line-up: First XI may not play
Al Wahda may not field their first line-up for tonight's match against Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia in the Asian Champions League despite their head coach's refusal to confirm this. "I have more than 20 players ready to play and I will select the best combination," Ahmad Abdul Halim said at a press conference.
Yousuf Anbar, his counterpart of the Saudi club, said: " We experienced some problems this season regarding selecting the best line-up for our local and continental matches which affected our results and led the club's management to change the technical staff."
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