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Al Shabab take on Al Riffah in a crucial GCC encounter

Dubai-based Al Shabab are set to play a decisive game in the  last round of the GCC Clubs Championship when they take on Al Riffah of Bahrain on Tuesday May 10 in Manama to determine the leaders of Group "A". Al Shabab lost their last match at home to Al Salmiyah of Kuwait by a lone goal netted by the visitors' striker Ali Ferydoon. Al Shabab's Brazilian coach Paulo Bonamego chose to face the Kuwaiti side without a number of his best key players because the team had already qualified for the quarterfinal stage of the GCC Competition.

Their Wednesday night opponents Al Riffah are in second spot with four points, the same balance as Al Salmiyah of Kuwait who have played all of their matches. Therefore Al Salmiyah have a narrow chance of proceeding to the next stage if Al Shabab are victorious over Al Riffah. Al Riffah need to win against the visiting Al Shabab to raise their tally to 7 points and finish the group stage on top of the table, while a draw will give Al Shabab leadership of the group and the advantage of playing their quarterfinal game at home.

The Al Shabab squad left for Bahrain this morning and will conduct their last training session tomorrow at the pitch where the match will be played. Coach Bonamego is expected to field his key players including Salim Abdullah as goalkeeper, Mohammed Ahmad, Abdullah Darweesh, Essam Dhahi, Waleed Abbas in the defensive line, Adil Abdullah, Hassan Ibrahim, Villanueva from Chili with Essa Obaid as midfielders, Brazilian Jociel Da Silva (Ciel) and Julio Cesar spearheading the attacks.