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.
