El Jaish coach Sabri Lamouchi is confident his side can do enough to book their place in the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League when they take on Al Nasr of the United Arab Emirates in the second leg of the quarter-finals today evening.
The Qatari side hold a 3-0 advantage from the first leg after Lamouchi’s team was awarded the win after Al Nasr were found to have fielded an ineligible player in their first meeting three weeks ago in Doha.
Al Nasr had triumphed 3-0 before the result was overturned by the Asian Football Confederation’s disciplinary committee due to irregularities surrounding the nationality of striker Wanderley, who scored two of his side’s three goals in the first leg.
“We are now in a good position and our main target is to get to the semi-finals and hopefully our players will have a good performance,” said Lamouchi. “We have to win with any result and we can even lose by a two-goal margin in order to achieve our target and hopefully we can do that.”
El Jaish were second-best throughout the first leg with Jonathan Pitroipa also finding the back of the net in addition to Wanderley’s brace, but with strikers Abderazzaq Hamadallah and Romarinho having impressed in the group stages of the competition the Qatari side have every reason to be confident going into the return fixture.
Lamouchi’s side saw off compatriots Lekhwiya in a high-scoring Round of 16 meeting over two legs after qualifying for the knockout phase of the competition at the top of Group D, which also featured Al Ain, Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan’s Nasaf.
Brazilian defender Lucas Mendes will be missing for El Jaish as Lamouchi attempts to take the Qatari club into the semi-finals of the competition for the first time in their history and become only the third club from the country — after 2011 winners Al Sadd and 2009 semi-finalists Umm Salal — to make it to the last four since the competition was launched in 2003.
“After the first leg we tried our best to fix the mistakes and our preparations were different as the domestic season didn’t start yet in Qatar,” said Lamouchi. “The first-leg match was our first official match this season so it was very hard for us.”

Jeonbuk thrash Shanghai to reach semis
Leonardo and Lee Dong-gook both scored a brace as Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of South Korea produced a dominating second-half display at home to thrash China’s Shanghai SIPG 5-0 yesterday to march into the semi-finals of the Asian Champions League.
After a goalless first half, the 2006 champions took complete control of the second leg of their quarter-final at the Jeonju World Cup Stadium against the Chinese debutants, coached by former England and Manchester City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Brazilian Leonardo opened the floodgates in the 52nd minute when he curled in a left-footer from the edge of the box after a brilliant build-up by the hosts, who are on course for their third straight K-League title.
Six minutes later, Shi Ke scored an own goal for last year’s Chinese Super League runners-up when he poked the ball home trying to make a clearance with Leonardo lurking close.
The Chinese side, who held Jeonbuk 0-0 in the first leg at home in August, had Lu Wenjun sent off in the 74th minute and the hosts made full use of their numerical advantage to pump three more goals in.
Leonardo converted a penalty in the 83rd minute before substitute Lee, the 37-year-old South Korean striker, added two more goals to make it 5-0 for the hosts, who will make their first ACL semi-final appearance since 2011.
In the last four, Jeonbuk will meet the winner of the quarter-final clash between FC Seoul and Shandong Luneng.
In the day’s other quarter-final, 2003 champions Al Ain sealed their second semi-final appearance in three seasons with a 1-0 win over Lokomotiv Tashkent.
After a goalless first leg, Al Ain’s Caio Lucas Fernandes scored the only goal of the match seven minutes before the break with a strike from the centre of the penalty area.