Al Nahda to face Al Ahed FC in AFC Cup West Zone final
Oman’s Al Nahda will look to register a triumph as they will take on Lebanon’s Al Ahed FC in the first-leg match of the AFC Cup 2023/24 West Zone final on Tuesday. The match will kick off at 20:00 (Oman time) at Karbala International Stadium in Iraq.
Al Nahda, currently placed second in the Oman top division league, are having the longest unbeaten streak for Omani clubs in the AFC Cup. They will look for a positive result that will keep the nation representatives chances very high in the home leg game, which will be hosted at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex on April 23 in Muscat.
Both sides met each other in the group stage and each team have won once. It is expected the match will be crucial and tight from both sides as each team will look to end the first leg on a bright note ahead of the deciding leg in Muscat next Tuesday.
Lebanon’s Al Ahed had started their campaign with a 2-1 win over the Omani side while Al Nahda beat Al Ahed 2-1 to secure top spot of the group and advance to the West Zone semifinals. The opponents Al Ahed secured the second ticket from the group as the best second-placed team from the three West Zone groups. Al Nahda, coached by experienced national coach Hamed al Azzani, are in good shape to play the tight clash as the team performed many training sessions in Iraq at Karbala city since the team’s arrival on Saturday.
During the training sessions, coach Hamed and his assistant technical staff focused on different attacking and defending techniques.
At domestic level, Al Nahda blanked Salalah based team Al Nasr 2-1 recently in the 15th week of Omantel League to remain in the second position with 33 points behind leaders Al Seeb with 44 points.
In Karbala, Al Azzani will depend on many national team players namely Salah al Yahyaei, Esam al Subhi, Omar al Malki, Ibrahim al Mukhaini, Ahmed al Kaabi, Harib al Saadi besides their professional players Walter and Junior for an impressive show.
The Al Buraimi-based team will aim to rekindle Al Seeb’s accomplishment in the 2022 edition as they had won the latest title of AFC Cup in a historic achievement for Oman’s football. On the other side, Lebanon’s Al Ahed are looking for another AFC Cup title after they became champions in 2019.