Sharjah challenges independence and “absences”

Sharjah will begin its participation in the “AFC Champions League 2” football tournament at 8 pm today, UAE time, with a strong match against the Tajik team, Istiklol, at the Central Republic Stadium in Dushanbe, in the first round of Group 3, which also includes the Iranian team, Sepahan, and the Jordanian team, Al-Wehdat. It is worth noting that Sharjah had bid farewell to the previous edition of the AFC Champions League for clubs, after failing to qualify for the round of 16 in the tournament. Therefore, “the King” seeks to challenge the Tajik team in front of its fans and change the image that it had shown in the previous edition, especially since Sharjah had previously reached the quarter-finals of the tournament in 2004.

Sharjah currently occupies second place in the ADNOC Professional League standings with six points, behind Al Nasr, the leader, with the same points and goal difference.

Sharjah faces a difficult task as it plays against the home team and the leaders of the Tajik League. It will also miss the services of four influential players due to suspensions and injuries, most notably the main goalkeeper Adel Al Hosani, Majed Rashid, Khaled Bawazir and Al Hassan Saleh.

Sharjah had left for Tajikistan the day before yesterday, where they trained and completed all their preparations for the match, hoping to achieve a strong start and return to the country with a positive result.

Sharjah trained on the artificial turf pitch before travelling to get acclimatised to the pitch where the match will be played.

Sharjah will play today’s match in its best form, having played four local matches so far, winning all of them, against Dibba Al-Hisn and Ittihad Kalba in the first and second rounds of the ADNOC Professional League and two matches against Khorfakkan in the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Cup.

32 teams are participating in the AFC Champions League 2, with the first two teams from each of the eight groups qualifying for the round of 16, which will be held next February.

Sharjah qualified to play in the group stage of the AFC Champions League 2, after finishing fourth in the ADNOC Professional League during the last football season.