MUSCAT: Oman’s Al Nahdha team delegation arrived on Saturday at Iraq's Karbala city, which will host the first leg AFC Cup 2023/24 West Zonal final. The Omani club will take on Lebanon’s Al Ahed FC in a tight clash on Tuesday.
The Al Buraimi based team , under consistent technical coaching staff headed by coach Hamed al Azani, takes the field to advance to the second leg match, which will be hosted at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex on April 23 in Muscat.
It is expected that the team will commence their training sessions in Karbala city on Sunday ahead of their official game on Tuesday. Recently, Al Nahdha defeated Al Nasr 2-1 in the 15th week of Omantel league to remain in the second position with 33 points behind the leader Seeb with 44 points.
The HM Cup and league title holders will eye to rekindle Seeb’s accomplishment in the 2022 edition as they had won the title in a historic achievement for Oman’s football. On the other side, Lebanon's Al Ahed are looking for another AFC Cup title after it became champions in 2019.
Both teams including Al Nahdha and Al Ahed met already in the group A stage as they were placed in group A. Lebanon’s Al Ahed had started their campaign with a 2-1 win over the Omani side but they had suffered to a 1-0 loss against Syria's Al Futuwa SC in the second game.
Al Nahdha had managed to defeat Al Futuwa 2-1 while Palestine's Jabal Al Mukaber had exited the group. Later, Al Nahdha registered their second successive win over Al Futuwa to advance and a 2-1 victory over Al Ahed secured their place in the West Zonal semi-finals.
The opponent Al Ahed secured the second ticket from the group after they earned a crucial 2-1 win over Al Futuwa in their final group match to advance as the best runners-up from the three West groups.
In the semis, Al Nahda secured a slot after they had held Bahrain’s Al Riffa to a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Manama before defeating them 3-1 in Muscat in the second leg game to advance into the West Zonal final. Al Ahed had suffered a 1-0 defeat to Iraq's Al Kahrabaa Club in the first leg before they had bounced back strongly in the following game as they registered a 4-2 victory over Iraq's Al Kahrabaa Club.
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