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Al Shabab host Al-Rifa in GCC Competition

Al Shabab will play their second match in the 26th Club GCC Champions League and Cup Competition when they host Al-Rifa of Bahrain on Wednesday, April 6 at Maktoum Bin Rashid Stadium in Dubai. Al Shabab began their campaign in this competition with a victory over Al Salmiyah of Kuwait, beating them by a solitary goal. Al Shabab's Chilean player Carlos Villanueva netted the all-important goal in the match played at Thamer Stadium in Kuwait.

Their Bahraini rivals for this week's match, Al-Rifa, have also collected the same balance of points following their hard-fought win over Al Salmiyah of Kuwait by the same margin. Wednesday's match will therefore determine the leaders of Group 1, or if it ends in a draw both squads will continue with equal points. Al Salmiyah remain at the bottom of the table and are yet to open their score but they will still have a chance to revive their hopes when they meet both Al Shabab and Al-Rifa again in the second round.

Al Shabab's coach has asked his team to play the match on Wednesday with greater concentration than they demonstrated in their match against Al Nasr in Round 15 of the Etisalat Pro-League Competition  on the weekend, when their opponents were two goals down before they came from behind to hold Al Shabab to a 2-2 draw.

Al-Rifa arrive to Dubai today and will conduct their last training session tomorrow at the match pitch.

Al Ahli and Al Dhafra who are also competing in the competition will not play this week as they have already finished their first round program. Al Ahli are sitting on top of the table with three points following their 2-1 win over Al Arabi of Kuwait, and then not having to play their other game after the third team in Group 4, Al Ahli from Bahrain, pulled out from the competition. Al Dhafra lost 0-1 to Al Arabi of Qatar in the first match but then beat  Saham of Oman 6-1 in their second game to revive their hopes of qualifying to the next stage.