Iran's Estighal arrive for Asian event

Estighlal players during a training session at Al Wahda Stadium

Gulf News- Kuwait Club of Kuwait, Estighlal of Iran and Nasaf Karsi from Uzbekistan have arrived in Abu Dhabi to begin their last preparations for the quarter-finals of the Asian Clubs Championship, hosted by Al Wahda Club from Wednesday, February 6.

The four teams will compete for two seats in the semifinals of the continent's biggest clubs' championship facing the two top teams from the East Zone for the 2002 Asian Clubs Champions.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have appointed Bahrain's Abdullah Hamzeh as the tournament's match commissioner while Jordan's Mohammed Al Sakran will be the referees inspector.

The referees appointed to officiate the matches are: Masayoshi Okada, from Japan, Abdul Rahman Al Zaid from Saudi Arabia, Basel Hajjar from Syria and Rungkiya Mongkol from Thailand.

The asssistant referees are: Nasir Merza Hassan from Bahrain, Mohammed Ahmed Al Musawi from Oman, Ali Al Khalifi from Qatar and Allaberdyev Bengech from Turkmenistan.

The teams will stay at the Abu Dhabi Armed Forces Officers Club Hotel and train at the grounds of Al Wahda Club.

Al Wahda, led by their coach Jo Bonfrere, have started their preparations on Saturday following a short rest for their nine international players who have been on national duty with the UAE and Qatar in the Gulf Cup in Saudi Arabia.

Al Wahda, staying at Hilton Abu Dhabi, had a complete training session and the players have proved their readiness and eagerness not only to be one of the two top teams but to win the group leadership.

The morale of the players were high. Their technical and administrative staff have talked to them before the first training and explained the importance of the competition and the importance of achieving excellent results as the UAE's league champions.

It is widely believed that Estighlal from Iran will be the most serious and difficult opponents for the home team in the competition and that was one of the reasons why the hosts will meet them in the opener of their task on Wednesday before the Iranians saw them playing against the other two teams.

The team's striker Qatar's Mohammed Salim Al Enazy arrived and participated in the team's first training session deserting the celebrations in Doha with his country's team finishing second in the Gulf Cup in Riyadh.

Al Enazy will spearhead Al Wahda's attacking force against Estighlal in their first match alongside the other two professionals, Fawzi Al Ruwaisi of Tunisia and Mohammed Conteh from Sierra Leone aided by their local internationals Yasir Salim, Hayder Allo Ali, Basheer Saeed, Abdul Salam Jumaa, Abdul Rahim Jumaa, Fahad Massoud, Abdulla Salim, Hussain Ali and others.

The Al Wahda's training sessions are still kept behind closed doors and are not expected to be open before the kick off.