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Al Shabab and Neftchi fighting to qualify for group stage

The UAE Al Shabab Football Team endeavor to qualify for the group stage of the 2012 AFC Champions League, when they host Neftchi of Uzbekistan on Saturday at Maktoum Bin Rashid Stadium in Dubai, in the second preliminary round. The team who emerge winners in this game will qualify directly to play in the fourth group, which includes Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, Al Gharafa from Qatar and Berozi from Iran. Al Shabab have the advantage of playing at home to qualify for the group stage after being knocked out in the first round of 2009 edition when they finished at the bottom of Group 4 which included Al Ettifaq of Saudi Arabia , Uzbek Bunyodkor and Sepahan of Iran.

Paulo Bonamego Brazilian coach of Al Shabab confirmed in a press conference held at the premises of the club the importance of the game on the grounds that the Uzbek team is one of the strongest teams in Uzbekistan and the Uzbek teams have proved their power in the AFC Champions League.

Bonamego said: "We do not have a lot of new information about Neftchi especially that the Uzbek league was over since last November, but we benefited from the information possessed by our Asian professional player Aziz Haydarov.

The Brazilian coach said: "We suffer from exhaustion because of the many games that we played in various local championships, and the Uzbek team is only focusing on the upcoming game on the grounds that their local championships have come to a halt since last November".

On the other hand, Adil Abdullah Al Shabab's star assured the importance of the game, pointing out that the UAE teams have the potential to qualify to the second round of the championship. He said: "Our participation in the Asian Champions League Neftchi will allow us to gain experience, and will give the team the technical value through playing against teams from outside UAE".

Yuri Sarkisian  Neftchi coach for 26 years confirmed that the chances of Al Shabab are more better to qualify for the Group Stage, on the grounds that the Uzbek team does not include any foreign player, while Al Shabab have 4 professional players, including Haydarov player of the  Uzbek National Football Team.

The Uzbek coach noted that he followed two games for Al Shabab during Neftchi's warm up camp held earlier in UAE, indicating that the UAE Al Shabab is a strong team and has distinctive players in all lines.

Neftchi's striker admitted during the press conference that the preference is for Al Shabab considering Neftchi's stoppage of playing official matches

since last November.