Muscat: Seeb will chase a win against Kuwait’s Al Arabi SC in the AFC Cup 2022 West Zone semifinal which will take place on Monday at the Kuwait Sports Club Stadium venue. The match will start at 9 pm (Oman time). The Oman representatives will eye a triumph in their debut to get in contention for claiming their first-ever AFC Cup honours.
The Seeb players arrived in Kuwait city earlier on Saturday and had few final training sessions ahead of the awaiting clash. Both teams did not win the AFC title before making the semifinal an exciting clash on Monday night. The winners of this match in Kuwait will play the winners of Tuesday’s derby in Bahrain where neighbours Riffa and East Riffa will meet for the second ticket for the AFC Cup 2022 West Zone final.
Seeb, who claimed Oman's Super Cup recently, are all set for the tight encounter. Seeb had delivered top show in the group stage as they sealed a spot from the group which featured three-time champions Kuwait SC, Lebanon’s Al Ansar and Syria’s Jableh SC, who were beaten by the Omanis 1-0 on the opening day.
At the domestic level, Seeb had managed to earn their second consecutive Omani top-tier league title and then they doubled with the HM Football Cup Championship before completing the set by edging Al Nahda 2-0 in the Super Cup in the previous month in Salalah.
It will be one of the official abroad assignments for the new head coach of Seeb, Romanian Ilie Stan, who replaced Serbian Boris Bunjak. The new coach is fully aware of today's game's importance. He will definitely work hard towards implementing different instructions and techniques to ensure a positive display for Seeb and securing good result to proceed in the Asian competition.
The best presence of Oman’s teams at the AFC Cup was back in 2011. Fanja club reached the Round of 16 as they were defeated 4-0 by runners-up Qadsia SC of Kuwait.
Seeb head coach Ilie Stan said during the pre-match press conference that he observed different matches of Kuwait’s Al Arabi club. “Our target is to accomplish a winning result in this fixture. Topping the domestic league does not put us under pressure. I am confident in my players ability to spread joy among Seeb’s fans. There are no injuries in the team and the team is fully ready for the game,” he ended.
Seeb capitan Eid al Farsi told the AFC website that bringing the AFC Cup to home is their focus. “Despite Oman’s local teams being defeated by Kuwaiti teams in 2011, we are ready to show our best performance in today’s game. The AFC Cup competition is classified as a vital assignment for every player in Oman,” Al Farsi added.
"The opponents Al Arabi will not be an easy team but we are confident to focus on strengths and play in our own style. We will go into each game as if it were a final until winning the AFC Cup. The objective is to create history for the club,” he said.
It is expected that the Romanian coach will depend on the similar faces who took part in the last games at the domestic league including the key players Mohsin al Ghassani, Abdulaziz al Maqbali, Eid al Farsi, Salah al Yahyaei, Juma al Habsi and Mohammed al Musallami among others.
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