Wihdat, Hussein hope for wins ahead of quarters

AMMAN -  Wihdat and Hussein play Round 6 matches in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Champions League (ACL) Two as of Tuesday before the decisive quarterfinals of the competition.

Both Jordanian teams booked a spot in the quarterfinals of the second tier Asian event that has replaced the AFC Cup, as thetop tier Asian clubs competition was rebranded as the ACLElite. Asian clubs played in 8 groups in the 21st edition of the ACL Two competition, with the top two in each group moving to the quarters. 

Wihdat will host UAE’s Sharjah in Amman at 5:00 pm on Dec. 3hoping to end fist stage matches with a win after they were held 2-2 in their first match. Coach Ra’fat Ali has given playing time to many players during the Shield Cup and ACL and has the chance to do so again as his team tops Group C and already looking ahead for the quarterfinals draw.

The team’s goalie, Abdullah Fakhouri, who is also the national squad’s substitute, was the star of the match in last week’s 1-1 draw with Sepahan Isfahan but is booked for Tuesday’s clash, Wihdat will seek to maintain their unbeaten run after they beat Isfahan 2-1 and Tajikistan’s Istiklol 1-o twice. In other group matches, Sepahan upset Sharjah 3-1 after losing 3-1, Sharjah beat Istiklol 1-0 and 3-1 and Sepahan beat Istiklol 4-0.

On the other hand, Jordan league champs Hussein play Kuwait in an away match hoping to repeat their earlier 2-1 win. They last lost their home game against UAE’s Ahli Dubai 3-2 to drop to second in Group D. Hussein had earlier lost 3-1 to Ahli andbeat Uzbekistan’s Nasaf Qarshi twice. In other group matches, Ahli held Kuwait 3-3 after earlier beating them 4-1, Kuwait held Nasaf 0-0 and beat them 2-1 while Nasaf upset Ahli 2-1.