Ittihad hosts Nagoya Grampus Eight of Japan in the first leg of the AFC Champions League semifinal at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here Wednesday. Al-Ittihad will try to make the most of its home match so that it can play its away game without undue pressure. Prince Nawaf Bin Faisal, Vice President of the General Presidency for Youth Welfare, has presented a check worth SR200,000 to Al-Ittihad to show his support for the club. In the quarterfinals Ittihad thumped Pakhtakor Tashkent of Uzbekistan to advance to the semis. After sharing two goals in the away match Ittihad dumped its Uzbek rival with a 4-0 win at home. Nagoya Grampus, meanwhile, made the semis after beating Japanese Kawasaki Frontale. Despite Ittihad's scintillating performances, its coach Gabriel Calderon is expecting a tough test. “Our next match in the semifinals will be not easy,” said the Argentine. “We need to travel to Japan (for the second leg) and we will face a strong team but since we accept no excuses I think we will secure the win and qualify to the final.” Its task has been made more difficult with central defender Redha Takar suspended after receiving yellow cards in both legs of its quarterfinal. Calderon has a host of options to replace the Saudi international, but is expected to opt for Osama Al-Harbi who is useful at set pieces. Nagoya has its own injury worries with striker Keiji Tamada a doubt after injuring a rib while playing for Japan in its Asian Cup qualifier against Hong Kong earlier this month. Nagoya's Serbian coach Dragan Stojkovic also has a selection headache in defense after Takahiro Masukawa was hospitalised with swine flu. Masukawa's absence is particularly unfortunate as it follows a back injury to Serb defender Milos Bajalica, who has been competing with Masukawa for a starting spot this season. South Korea's Pohang Steelers is also determined to make the most of home advantage in its semifinal against Qatari minnow Umm Salal. Pohang Steelers displayed impressive home form at the weekend when it sealed a 1-0 victory over Gangwon that kept it third in the K-League. Its Brazilian striker Denilson, one of the stars of this year's competition with seven goals, is confident his team will do enough to secure a healthy lead to take into the second leg in Doha next week. “My goal and the team's goal is to win the AFC Champions League. This will be the best reward for the players, staff, fans and everyone else,” he told reporters. “We gained a lot of experience from last year's AFC Champions League. “We learned how to reduce mistakes and prepared well for the tournament. Every player knows his role in the team and this has made the difference.” But Pohang, who ended the AFC Champions League dreams of former Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scholari and his Bunyodkor team in the last eight, has its work cut-out against the Qataris who beat FC Seoul in the quarters. Umm Salal never dreamed it would get this far but its French coach Gerard Gili believes it can now make the final. “We are the smallest club left in the AFC Champions League and I think we can be a role model for others. Even though we are not a big team, we can get big results,” he said. “We already have a good memory in South Korea and we are now focused on getting ready to do the same again in the semifinal.” __
