Al-Taawoun Saudi Arabia is looking forward to getting close to qualifying for the qualifying rounds in the AFC Champions League 2, when it receives its Jordanian counterpart, Al-Faisaly, on Wednesday, at the “Wolves Park” stadium in the city of Buraidah, as part of the fourth round of the third group, in a confrontation during which the Saudi team seeks to confirm its continental superiority, and compensate for its continuing failures at the local level. Al-Taawoun enters the confrontation leading the group standings with seven points, one point ahead of Al-Rayyan of Qatar, which is in second place, while Al-Faisaly of Jordan occupies third place with three points, and Al-Nahda of Oman is at the bottom of the standings with one point.
Al-Taawoun has the opportunity to decide its qualification early if it achieves victory over Al-Faisaly, coinciding with the faltering of Al-Nahda of Oman against Al-Rayyan of Qatar, as the victory of the Saudi team, in exchange for Al-Nahda’s failure to win, will guarantee its passage to the knockout rounds two rounds before the end of the group stage.
The Saudi team is looking for its third victory in the tournament, after it succeeded in regaining the top spot in the group during the last round, following its victory over Al-Faisaly of Jordan with two goals to none in the confrontation that brought them together on the latter’s soil.
Al-Taawoun waited until the second half to settle that match, after Parfi Goyjon opened the scoring in the 52nd minute, before Faris Al-Ghamdi increased the lead with the second goal in the 77th minute, bringing the Saudi team back with the three points, raising its score to seven points at the top of the group.
Al-Taawoun hopes to repeat its superiority over its Jordanian competitor, benefiting this time from the ground staff and the audience, especially since the victory will give it the opportunity to take a decisive step towards the next round, in addition to maintaining the lead in the group in light of the continuous pursuit from Al-Rayyan of Qatar. The picture appears different for Al-Taawoun on the local level, as the team is still searching for its first victory in the Saudi Professional League since the start of the season, despite its better appearance in some recent matches.
Al-Taawoun was close to achieving its first victory locally in the twelfth round, after it advanced against Al-Ettifaq until the last minutes, before conceding the equalizer, bringing the confrontation to an end with a score of 1-1, and the team continues to be far from victories in the league.
This discrepancy between the results of local and continental cooperation puts the team in front of an additional challenge, as it seeks to invest its Asian successes to enhance the confidence of its players, and maintain the positive path that made it lead its group despite its difficult results in local competitions.
On the other hand, Al-Faisaly of Jordan will be a guest of Buraidah, and he realizes that achieving a positive result represents a necessity to maintain his chances of competing for one of the two qualification cards, especially after his loss to Al-Taawoun in the last round.
Al-Faisaly occupies third place with three points, four points behind Al-Taawoun, the leaders, and three points behind Al-Rayyan, which is in second place, which makes its confrontation with the Saudi team an important step in reducing the difference and rearranging its cards in the group.
The Jordanian team does not enter the match in its best morale, after suffering a local loss to its guest, Al-Hussein Irbid, with a goal to none, on Saturday, in the seventh round of the Jordanian Professional League. Al-Faisaly's loss came at a fatal time, after Salah Al-Farash scored Al-Hussein Irbid's only goal in the third minute of stoppage time in the second half, depriving the hosts of a draw point. Despite this loss, Al-Faisaly maintained its lead in the Jordanian league standings with 14 points, but it looks forward to quickly regaining its balance before the continental confrontation, especially since a new loss to Al-Taawoun will make its position in the group more difficult. The Jordanian team hopes to benefit from the lessons it learned from the first leg, after it was unable to keep a clean sheet during the second half, at a time when it is looking to stop Al-Taawoun’s offensive threat and return with a result that restores its hopes of competition.
In the second confrontation of the same group, Al-Rayyan of Qatar will host its counterpart, Al-Nahda of Oman, at Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium, in a meeting during which the Qatari team will look forward to achieving its third victory and continuing its pursuit of Al-Taawoun at the top of the standings. Al Rayyan occupies second place with six points, after starting its campaign with an exciting victory over Al-Faisaly of Jordan with a score of 4-3, before losing to Al-Taawoun of Saudi Arabia with a score of 1-2, then regaining the tone of victories with a broad victory over Al-Nahda of Oman with a score of 4-1 in the third round. The Qatari team hopes to repeat its victory over Al-Nahda, benefiting from the ground staff and the crowd, which will enhance its chances of qualifying and give it the opportunity to seize the lead if Al-Taawoun falters against Al-Faisaly.
As for Al-Nahda of Oman, it enters the confrontation at the bottom of the group standings with one point, which it gained from its 1-1 draw against Al-Taawoun, before losing to Al-Faisaly of Jordan with two goals to none, then to Al-Rayyan by four goals to one.
Attention is turning to the results of the two matches, in light of the qualification calculations being tied to facing Al-Taawoun and Al-Faisaly on the one hand, and Al-Rayyan and Al-Nahda on the other hand, as the fourth round may witness the clinching of the first tickets to the knockout rounds, or the conflict will continue until the next rounds.
