Kuwait confident ahead of top-of-the-table clash

AFC – KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait will be missing a pair of key players when they face Iran on Tuesday in a top-of-the-table clash in Group B of the AFC Asian Cup 2015 qualifiers.

The two teams enter the match at the Kuwait Sports Club Stadium with three points each after they began their qualification campaigns with solid victories in their opening games last month. Iran trounced Lebanon 5-0 in Tehran while the Kuwaitis returned from Bangkok with a resounding 3-1 victory over Thailand.

They have been joined on three points by Lebanon, who beat Thailand 5-2 in Beirut last Saturday although the winners of Tuesday’s game will open up a three-point lead at the top of the section.

But all is not well in the Kuwaiti camp with Walied Ali and Fahad Al Enezi both set to miss the showdown with the Iranians. Veteran midfielder Walied has been ruled out by a hamstring injury while Al Enezi has been barred from playing by the Kuwait FA for disciplinary reasons.

Unhappy at being taken off in the second half during the match against Thailand last month, the mercurial 24-year-old Kuwait SC winger had an angry verbal exchange with coach Goran Tufegdzic and team manager Osama Abdullah and he was duly suspended for four domestic matches as well as the Asian Cup qualifier against Iran.

Despite the absence of the pair, Tufegdzic is quite happy with his team’s build-up to the game against Iran, which included a 2-1 win over Palestine in a friendly last Thursday.

“I’m satisfied with the preparations of our team,” said the Serbian, who has been in charge of Kuwait since 2009.

“We will be playing against a well-developed team but we managed to study their weaknesses and strengths and hopefully we can get a positive result tomorrow.

“We had a good start in the qualifiers and we want to continue with the same motivation in order to please our fans. I believe that the match will be entertaining but at the same time we will surprise our opponents with our tactics.”

Iran arrived in Kuwait on Sunday in confident mood with coach Carlos Queiroz keen to see his side build on their positive start against Lebanon.

“We prepared well for the match and we know that Kuwait are not an easy side but we will give our best to get a positive result although it will not be an easy task as Kuwait have home advantage and the fans on their side,” said the Portuguese coach.

“We respect all our opponents but we will try our best to win and remain at the top of the group especially after the perfect start that we had with a big win against Lebanon.

“We have good information about Kuwait and hopefully we can use this to our advantage.”

Iran’s possible lineup: Davari (Ahmadi) – Heydari, Montazeri, Hosseini, Pouladi – Teymourian, Nekounam, Jabbari – Dejagah, Ghoochannejhad, Shojaei

Missing: Khalatbari, Y. Karimi, A. Karimi, R. Haghighi (all injured)
Doubtful: Atashkadeh (convalescent)