Emirates' hopes hang by a thread

Hopes of Emirates becoming the first UAE club to qualify to the later stages of the Asian Champions League in three seasons are not dead despite a 1-0 home defeat to Iran's Zobahan on Tuesday, according to captain Karim Kerkar. Had second division Emirates, based in Ras Al Khaimah, beaten last season's losing finalists at the RAK Stadium they would have been the only team from outside a domestic top flight to progress to the last sixteen of the ACL. But a lone 80th minute strike from Mohammad Kazem Ghazi severely dented the club's fairytale run. Now Emirates must get nothing short of a win from their last game against Al Rayyan in Qatar on Tuesday, while hoping Saudi's Al Shabab slip up on their travels to Zobahan. If Shabab draw and Emirates win it will go down to goal difference. "Al Shabab will find it difficult to get a win in Iran," said Kerkar. "Meanwhile Al Rayyan has no chance to progress and their league is over so they might field a reserve team. So there's definitely still hope. "We have to win in this last game so we will do everything we can to get the three points, after that we just have to see how the Zobahan-Shabab match ends up. "We haven't won away from home in the ACL all season so yes of course it will be difficult but anything can happen in football." French-Algerian midfielder, Kerkar, 34, added: "We can't be too upset with our loss to Zobahan on Tuesday because we played so well. "We tried everything we could against a team that lost in the final last year. They are one of Asia's strongest teams. We didn't just watch them play though. "We had a lot of chances but didn't score, if you don't put them away at this level you get punished. "We actually felt Al Shabab and Al Rayyan played better against us than Zobahan at our ground so in that sense it's disappointing we couldn't win. "But there's still hope, nothing is over until the final whistle of the last game." When asked to comment on the demise of the UAE's other participants in the ACL, Kerkar said: "We don't think about them. If they qualify or not its good for them. We will just concentrate on our chance to go to the next level." Should Emirates beat Al Rayyan next week and the result at Zobahan goes their way, this second tier minnows will be the only UAE flag-bearer left in the competition after Al Wahda crashed out with a 3-2 away loss to Uzbekistan's Bunyodkor on Tuesday.