Al-Sharjah maintained its lead in the second group of the AFC Champions League for football clubs, despite its host Nassaf of Uzbekistan, a positive 1-1 draw against the Romanian side in the fourth round yesterday. Coach Olario Gasmin stressed that “Al-Sharjah will do their best during their next two matches.” Against Al-Saad on the 27th of this month and Al-Faisali on the 4th of next month,” he pointed out. With a strategy that relies on three fast players in attack, he preferred to play Malian Moussa Marega over Sebastien Dighali, as he said.

Although Sharjah ended the first half early with Musa Marega’s goal, they could not hold on to their lead and the team suffered from some defensive and attacking problems. On the other hand, Uzbekistan managed to get back into the match in the second half. And struck the equalizer at a critical time.

With this, Sharjah increased their score to eight points, while Nassaf team is second with seven points at the end of the fourth round, while Al-Saad of Qatar is third with four points and Al-Faisali of Jordan is last with three points.

The result of the match between Qatar’s Al-Saad and Jordan’s Al-Faisali in the same group saw Al-Faisali win with two clean goals, helping Sharjah maintain their lead and improve their chances of qualifying. On to the next round.

Kasmin told a press conference: “Despite the balance of the team, it still retains its chances to qualify for the second round in this tournament,” and added: “Despite a significant disadvantage we played well and won until the end and played a strong match. Team ranks.”

Kasmin said: “I thank the Sharjah players for the sacrifices they made in the match because this kind of match requires a lot of sacrifice from the players.”

Commenting on the inclusion of Malian striker Moussa Marega in place of Thigali at the start of the match, Kasmin said he played as Moussa in the match and scored for Sharjah: “We knew Nassaf would attack before the match. Big offensive power, and this thing will create gaps in its defense, so I wanted to add “I have three fast players in the attack line, which is the strategy we played in the match.”

Regarding Sharjah goalkeeper Adel Al-Hosani’s two penalty kick saves in this match and the previous match against Nassaf, Kasmin confirmed, “Al-Hosani’s ability to save two penalty kicks in the team’s two matches against Nassaf is a sign of great effort in saving both kicks.”

The Sharjah coach pointed out that all three teams, Sharjah, Nassab and Al Sadd, still have strong chances to qualify for the next round, assuming qualification will be decided by a few points and insisting that next. This round will reveal the characteristics of the teams that will qualify for the next round.