Big mission

Saudi teams face a big mission in the Asian competitions as the Asian Champions League and Asian Federation Cup progressed to the quarterfinal. Ittihad will play the first leg in Jeddah today against Guanzhou Evergrande, a newcomer in the Asian competitions.
And although Ittihad is known to be a pretty strong team, its recent matches seem to be unconvincing. Luckily, they have the homecourt advantage.
Ahli also plays today and is expected to have a tougher match against Sepahan in Asfahan. Sepahan is a very good team which will not take any chances in its hometown.
Remember that they are the only Iranian team to reach the quarter finals out of four contenders. This team will not take pity in beating Ahli to reach the semifinal. Ahli does not fall behind in preparation, even postponing the derby against Ittihad last Friday to focus on today's match.
Better to have the tougher and more important match out of the way, and then play the second leg in Jeddah with lesser pressure.
Also playing ahead of Ittihad and Ahli today is Hilal at 1:30 p.m. Saudi local time in the long awaited match against Ulsan Hyundai in Korea.
Hilal currently holds the best record in all of Asia but, frankly, I am not confident of a victory. As much as I pray for them to win, I have my doubts too.
The team's performance in the league has gone bad. In the previous match against Shulah on Friday, the team hardly won with a poor defense line. As if bringing back Yasser Al-Qahtani to the team is not a bad decision in itself, they even made him the team captain! I pray he proves me wrong. Hilal's strength now lies on their best strikers, Wesley Lopes and Yoo Byung-Soo, who I hope will be utilized well.
Finally, Ittifaq, which had an easy 2-0 win against Arema in Indonesia in the Asian Federation Cup. I said this before and I will say it again, Ittifaq is the strongest team of all the eight remaining teams. I hope they keep up the good work and inspire the other three teams. Who knows we might just end these Asian campaigns with a Saudi championship double.
I would like to end my column by wishing Fateh the best in its Arab Champions Cup game against Jahrah from Kuwait. It will be Fateh’s first championship game outside the Kingdom. I have faith in these guys and I know they will do good.
Follow me on twitter @alhamadbander.