With Oman's Al Suwaiq the only side to have officially been eliminated from the competition, we will be a step closer to finding out which four West Asian sides reach the knock-out stages by the end of the six Matchday Five fixtures across Groups A, B and C on Monday and Tuesday.
Group A
Jordan’s Al Wehdat and Syria’s Al Jaish can edge closer to the knock-out stages should they defeat Lebanon’s Nejmeh SC and Palestine’s Hilal Al Quds respectively in Group A on Tuesday.
Al Wehdat currently sit in second place with seven points from four games. Their last outing saw them come from behind to draw with Al Jaish 1-1 in Amman two weeks ago.
Nejmah, on the other hand, are yet to get off the mark. The Lebanese side started their campaign with a 1-0 defeat in the reverse fixture to Al Wehdat. They then lost with the same scoreline on home soil to Al Jaish.
The second match of the group sees Hilal Al Quds play hosts to Al Jaish at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah on Tuesday.
The two sides had faced-off on the opening matchday in Bahrain. Mohammed Obaid opened the scoring for the Palestinians, before Ahmad Ashkar drew level for Al Jaish. That point remains Hilal Al Quds only one of the campaign so far.
Hilal Al Quds (PLE) vs Al Jaish (SYR)
Venue: King Abdullah Sports City, Jeddah
Kick-off: April 30, 19:00 UTC+3
Nejmeh SC (LIB) vs Al Wehdat (JOR)
Venue: Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, Beirut
Kick-off: April 30, 19:00 UTC+3
Group B
With Al Ittihad mathematically only able to qualify as best runners-up, the race for the top spot in Group B reaches its pinnacle on Matchday Five with two games taking place on Tuesday.
Nothing except the three points can keep Bahrain’s Al Najma in contention as they visit group leaders Al Jazeera.
The Bahrainis have four points in third place, six points adrift of their Tuesday opponents. The two sides had played out a 1-1 draw in Matchday One in Amman.
Three-time AFC Cup champions Kuwait SC travel to Abu Dhabi where they face Syria’s Al Ittihad. A win for the Kuwaiti side will set up a top-of-the-table clash on the final matchday against Al Jazeera, especially should the latter defeat Al Najma.
Kuwait SC are currently second in the table with seven points. A slow start to the 2019 AFC Cup campaign saw them held to a goalless draw by Al Ittihad in Kuwait City and then lost to Al Jazeera in Amman. Since then, they have won both legs against Al Najma to climb up the table.
Al Jazeera (JOR) vs Al Najma (BAH)
Venue: Amman International Stadium, Amman
Kick-off: April 30, 17:30 UTC+3
Al Ittihad (SYR) vs Kuwait SC (KUW)
Venue: Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Kick-off: April 30, 19:30 UTC+4
Group C
The race in Group C is heated with three teams; Al Ahed, Qadsia SC and Malkiya Club, only separated by the finest of margins.
Bahrain’s Malkiya finished third in their group last year, and are in the same position now with two matches to go, the first of which sees them host bottom side Al Suwaiq on Monday.
The Omanis have failed to collect any points and had lost to Malkiya 2-1 on Matchday One. A repeat of that result will take Malkiya’s tally to 10 points and put them in a prime position for qualification.
Malkiya’s eyes will partially be on the second Monday fixture, with rivals Qadsia and Al Ahed facing-off in Kuwait City.
Al Ahed are unbeaten so far and top the group with eight points. They could reach the Zonal Semi-Finals for the second year running should they defeat Qadsia and Al Suwaiq get the three points against Malkiya.
Malkiya (BAH) vs Al Suwaiq (OMA)
Venue: Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Isa Town
Kick-off: April 29, 19:00 UTC+3:00
Qadsia SC (KUW) vs Al Ahed (LIB)
Venue: Jaber Al Ahmed International Stadium, Kuwait City
Kick-off: April 29, 20:15 UTC+3
