Al Sadd hope to carry momentum against Al Wehdat

Having rediscovered their best form against Jordan’s Al Wehdat in a 3-1 win, Qatari champions Al Sadd will be aiming for three more points when the two teams meet again on Matchday Four of the 2021 AFC Champions League Group D fixture on Friday.
Xavi Hernandez’s men have endured a mixed campaign, needing a late goal to salvage a point against Foolad before being beaten by Al Nassr 3-1. They, however, rediscovered their best form against competition debutantes Tuesday.
Al Wehdat started their debut campaign with a 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr, but that was followed by defeats to Iran’s Foolad Khouzestan FC (1-0) and Al Sadd, and another defeat would dash their hopes of advancing.
Xavi said consistency would be key if Al Sadd are to progress to the Round of 16 and the Spanish legend will urge his players to show the intensity they did in the first half against Al Wehdat on Tuesday.
Al Sadd had 14 shots from inside the box against Al Wehdat and if they can play at the same level and get a win today, they will approach their final two matches against Foolad and Al Nassr confident of advancing to the Round of 16 as the group winners.
“This is another important match for us, and we’re treating this like the final. From my experience, it’s difficult to win against the same team twice in a row. But we’ve been doing well, especially in the last game, where we did excellent in the first half, and not so well in the second half,” said Xavi.
“In the first match, we played well in the first 60 minutes, and in the second match, we played better in the second half, then we played brilliantly in the first half of the last match. Now, our target is to play well for all 90 minutes.
“I expect tomorrow to be difficult because Al Wehdat played well in the second half, and they’ll be for sure playing attack tomorrow. But it’s okay, we have four points, it all depends on ourselves, and our main target is to qualify for the knockout rounds.”
Al Wehdat found the going tough against Al Sadd, conceding three first half goals but gave a better account of themselves in the second half, with Ahmed Saleh scoring their first-ever AFC Champions League goal and head coach Abdullah Abu Zema will expect them to reproduce that spirit.
“In the last match against Al Sadd we shared control, Al Sadd controlled in the first half in terms of performance and result, and scored three goals, then in the second half we dominated but wasted several chances and only managed to score a goal,” Zema said.
“The two teams knows each other now, and there are no secrets between us, and I guess now the level of fitness will have an effect as each team has played three matches.
“Our only hope is to win the match, and get the three points and this is what we want. The other match between Al Nassr and Foolad last time finished with a draw, which kept everything open in the group.”
“In the previous matches we were organised in defence, but we were not courageous in attack,” Zema admitted. “And generally, we’ve always been better in the second half, but we promise our fans that we will show a different Al Wehdat side in the next three matches.
“We will not lose hope to qualify, and winning this match will get us a step closer to that. The team who have better substitutes in the coming three matches will be in better situation, and I have substitutes who are equal to the starting players.”