Ziaie has eye on Saba victory

AFCL - Saba Battery coach Mohammad Hossain Ziaie has set his sights on claiming all three points against Qatar's Al Gharafa on Wednesday as his club aims to keep their hopes of qualifying for the knockout phase of the AFC Champions League alive.

The Iranian side trail Group C leaders Al Karama from Syria by two points with two games to play and the 55-year-old coach knows anything less than victory will leave his team's fate out of their own hands.

"Even if we win this game, we are not sure of moving through to the next round," said Ziaie, "so we must keep on doing our best to win against both of our subsequent opponents.

"It's important that we're focused on sending Al Gharafa back home without a single point."

Victory for Saba Battery would set up a winner-takes-all encounter in their final game when they meet Al Karama in Homs on Matchday Six and the Tehran-based club are at full strength for their final home game of the group phase.

Ali Daei, Yahya Golmohammadi and Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh have all been granted leave from the Iranian national team's pre-World Cup training camp and are expected to start against the Qataris.

Al Gharafa arrive in Tehran off the back of a 2-1 win over Al Sadd that moved them into the semi-finals of the Emir Cup, with Sergio Ricardo and Othman El Assas scoring the goals that saw last year's league champions progress.

Mugib Hamid will miss Wednesday's game after picking up his second yellow card of the group phase against Al Karama last week while El Assas and Lawrence Quaye will be absent due to injury.

However, Bahrain international striker A'ala Hubail and Bilal Mohammed return to the squad after suspension ruled the pair out of the 3-1 loss to the Syrians, which all but ended Al Gharafa's hopes of reaching the quarter-finals.