Dominant Al Duhail eye perfect record

Al Duhail will look to post a perfect six wins from six when they roundoff their 2018 AFC Champions League Group B campaign at home to UAE’s AlWahda at Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium today.Ismail Mohamed struck the only goal of the game as the Qatari sideregistered five wins in a row following a 1-0 victory over Zobahan lastweek and they will progress to the last 16 as one of the form teams onthe continent.Al Wahda’s 4-1 home defeat to Lokomotiv in early April confirmed theirelimination after going into the penultimate game with a realisticchance of progressing to the next round. The group winners have won an incredible 13 games in a row since earlyFebruary and go into the game having not played for over a week, whileAl Wahda defeated Al Jazira 3-0 in the UAE President’s Cup on Wednesday.Luiz Junior is suspended for Al Duhail after picking up his secondbooking of the group stage last time out, while the trio of BalazsDzsudzsak, Salem Sultan and Mohamed Abdulbasit return from one-game bansfor the visitors.Meanwhile, Duhail coach Djamel Belmadi indicated yesterday that he willgive young players a chance against Al Wahda. The Algerian wanted histeam to have a clear record before they go into the knockout stages.“Today’s match is an opportunity for a number of young players. We havenumber of young players on the bench, because the club’s policy is basedon the young players who are future of the club and country,” Belmadisaid. Duhail will miss the services of Tunisian attacking midfielder YoussefMsakny, who is likely out of action for six months with a cruciateligament injury he sustained during their QNB Stars League match againstAl Sailiya. Belmadi conceded he will miss Msakny, but the Duhail coachsaid it was not the first time his team will miss a key player. “We’regoing into today’s game in order to play at the best possible level andto achieve a positive result. Both Msakni and Youssef El-Arabi areimportant for us, but we also have Nam Tae-Hee, Karim Boudiaf  and otherplayers. The team must work as a group and not depend on a particularplayer,” he said. “We also missed many players due to international commitments during theseason, but we still won many matches in the league. So the focusshould not be on individuals but to work collectively as a team,” headded.Al Gharafa to play for pride Meanwhile, the bottom two sides in Group A of the 2018 AFC ChampionsLeague will close their continental campaigns today as TractorsaziTrabriz host Al Gharafa at Yadegar-e Emam Stadium in Tabriz, Iran.Al Gharafa’s 3-2 home defeat to Al Jazira two weeks ago ended the Qatariside’s hopes of progressing to the knockout rounds because of aninferior head-to-head record against the Emirati team.Al Gharafa will be without Assim Madibo after his red card against AlJazira as the sides aim to end the competition on a high having won justone game between them.Tractorsazi have endured a miserable campaign and have yet to pick up awin, with a 2-0 reversal against Al Ahli on Matchday Five finallyconfirming their elimination.The hosts’ form domestically has been equally disappointing as Friday’sloss to Sepidrood Rasht was their 10th game without a win, while AlGharafa’s last game was a 3-0 win over Qatar SC.