{"id":11144,"date":"2010-04-12T20:16:43","date_gmt":"2010-04-13T03:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2010\/04\/12\/al-ahli-aim-to-reignite-acl-ambition\/"},"modified":"2010-04-12T20:16:43","modified_gmt":"2010-04-13T03:16:43","slug":"al-ahli-aim-to-reignite-acl-ambition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2010\/04\/12\/al-ahli-aim-to-reignite-acl-ambition\/","title":{"rendered":"Al Ahli aim to reignite ACL ambition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: right;\" alt=\"Mes_celebrating\" src=\"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/Mes_celebrating.jpg\" height=\"246\" width=\"379\" \/>AFC &#8211; DUBAI, <strong>Al Ahli coach Nooreddine Al Obaidy is adamant his side are not just  playing for pride when they face Iranians Mes at Al Rashid Stadium on  Tuesday looking to secure their first win of the AFC Champions League. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The UAE side is bottom of Group D having managed to register  just a single point from four games and are five points behind Mes.<\/p>\n<p>A  defeat for Al Ahli will end their slim hopes of claiming a top two  finish and with it a place in the last 16 of the tournament, but Al  Obaidy is refusing to throw in the towel just yet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are  playing to qualify and also to bring joy to our fans,\u201d said the  Tunisian.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we have even one per cent chance to qualify, we  will play for it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Al Obaidy has received a welcome boost with  the return of Bare after the Brazilian missed Al Ahli\u2019s last three  matches in the tournament through injury.<\/p>\n<p>Bare will take his  place on the bench for the game while Al Obaidy is hopeful Iran  international Mehrzad Madanchi (pictured in action against Mes in  Kerman) can step up to the plate against his compatriots.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMadanchi  is a good forward and has done what is expected of him since he joined  Al Ahli,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m hoping he will play more than what I  need from him tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mes coach Luka Bonacic knows Al Ahli  will be fighting tooth and nail to secure the victory but the Croat  stressed his side will also be battling for the three points that will  keep them in contention for a top two finish.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know Al Ahli  have a slim chance of qualifying and they want to show their fans what  they are worth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know that if we win, we stand a  better chance of qualifying.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe cannot take Al Ahli lightly  because they have eight national team players from UAE, Brazil and  Egypt. We cannot take them for granted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey show two sides to  their game. In home matches they are completely different but when they  play away, they are like mice. I don\u2019t know whether it is because of  lack of experience or exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bonacic will be without  midfielder Ghasem Dehnavi, who is serving a one-match suspension for  picking up two yellow cards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AFC &#8211; DUBAI, Al Ahli coach Nooreddine Al Obaidy is adamant his side are not&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22614,"featured_media":11006,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c17-asian-competitions"],"views":2425,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22614"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}