Wihdat, Jazira shot for AFC Cup wins at home

By Aline Bannayan - Apr 13,2015 - Last updated at Apr 13,2015

AMMAN — Wihdat and Jazira will play decisive matches in Stage 4 of the 2015 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup starting Tuesday.

Jazira will host Bahrain’s Hidd in Group B. They earlier held the guest team 1-1 after two other 1-1 draws against Iraq’s Shurta and Palestine’s Wadi Nes. Earlier, Shurta beat Wadi Nes 6-2 and held Bahrain’s Hidd 2-2.

“We have trained hard to overcome the state of the team in the past three matches. We need to start scoring and will play accordingly,” Jazira coach Issa Turk said after the team’s practice.

In Group A, Wihdat, who lead the group, seek to beat Syria’s Wihda when they meet on Wednesday in Irbid. Wihdat lost 1-0 to Wihda on a penalty kick early in the match. Wihdat beat Oman’s Nahda 3-0 and Salam Zgharta 5-1.

Wihda share lead Wihdat on goal difference followed by Lebanon’s Salam Zgharta who beat Oman’s Nahda 2-1.

Jordan Professional League champs Wihdat hope to advance in the AFC Cup this season after they exited the AFC Champions League losing 1-0 to ACL and AFC Cup titleholders Kuwait’s Qadissieh. Locally, they still have a slim lead in the League but their morale is up after two consecutive wins over Shabab Urdun and Baqaa.

Wihdat have never won the AFC Cup in the past seven times they competed while it is the first time for Jazira, who took part after time after two-time AFC Cup champs and League runner-up Faisali declined to participate this season.

The AFC Cup 2015 includes 32 clubs from across the continent competing in eight groups with the top two from each group going on to the Round of 16.

Last year, first time AFC Cup competitors Jordan Cup champs That Ras exited the Round of 16 while former AFC Cup champs Shabab Urdun exited in Round 1. They were also eliminated by Bahrain’s Hidd in their preliminary round of the AFC Champions League.

The second-tier Asian club competition was won by Syria’s Jeish in its inaugural edition in 2004. Jordan’s Faisali won in 2005 and 2006, and Shabab Urdun in 2007.

AFC Cup Standings

Group A

	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Wihdat	3	2	0	1	8	2	6
Wihda	3	2	0	1	4	2	6
S. Zgharta	3	1	0	2	3	8	3
Nahda	3	1	0	1	3	6	3

Group B

	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Shurta	3	1	2	0	9	5	5
Hidd	3	0	3	0	4	4	3
Jazira	3	0	3	0	3	3	3
Wadi Nes	3	0	2	1	4	8	2

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