Aguirre, 57, has proven a roaring success during his debut campaign in the Arabian Gulf League. A one-year contract extension preceded the cessation of a five-year trophy drought with April’s Arabian Gulf Cup, and now victory against inconsistent Bani Yas Sunday could gain a continental prize.
Al Nasr, Al Shabab and Al Wasl are also in the hunt for the third-and-final place through the top flight which guarantees a play-off for Asia’s premier club competition. After last week’s disappointing 1-1 draw at lowly Sharjah, the ex-Atletico Madrid and Mexico supremo was sure another chance to seal it from the side in possession would not be wasted.
He said: “An adventure is coming to a close, as this is the first experience for me in the UAE and the Arab region as a whole.
“Of course, when you travel to a country for the first time, it is like an adventure because you do not know how you will cope with the prevailing conditions, and the atmosphere cannot be predicted.
“It is a natural thing that the team is under special pressure after the draw with Sharjah, but I am sure the players have experience in dealing with these kind of games well.”
Victory for Wahda would protect them from the vagaries of who wins the President’s Cup and how that pertains to the fourth entry from the UAE for the 2017 ACL. If anyone already qualified takes that trophy, then fourth becomes infinitely more valuable – although this has only happened three times since the professional era began in 2008/09.
Wasl are currently a point and a place behind Aguirre’s men, putting them in pole position to profit from a slip. They face a showdown with sixth-placed Al Shabab, who are rank outsiders to gatecrash the top three.
“We have ninety minutes at the end of this season and we need to offer all of our best level,” said Cheetahs boss Gabriel Calderon.
“We fully realise the difficulty of this confrontation and we’ll go in order to make up for our missed opportunities.”
Shabab must win at their Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium and hope all their nearest rivals make mistakes. An emotional day is guaranteed for coach Caio Junior and – despite his absence through injury – seven-year vete-ran Carlos Villanueva, who are both likely to depart this summer.
Gabriel Calderon.
“Carlos is a legend of Al Shabab; he is an example for me and for all the other players,” said forward Henrique Luvannor.
“He is a good guy and for this last game of the season we will try to win for coach Caio and for Carlos because they deserve to finish the season and finish their time at the club with a win. Caio is the best coach I have had until now.”
History was made this week by Nasr as they make the knockout stages of the ACL for the first time in three attempts. Barring a miraculous victory in that tournament, they’ll need to beat relegation-threatened Fujairah and hope for handouts elsewhere to return to the fold in 2017.
Blue Wave boss Ivan Jovanovic was sure desire would not be an issue for his fifth-placed charges.
He said: “The AFC Champions League has motivated us to fight in the league to finish as high as possible. This is the reason why we want to achieve third place.
“We made many mistakes. But still we have the chance in the last game to fix what we did wrong.”
Contrasting aims can be found at on-song Fujairah. The Wolves are still in the drop zone, but a third-successive triumph would give them an excellent chance of climbing out at the death.
“We will give all our efforts to win the game and do what we can to stay up,” said 14-goal star Nigerian striker Patrick Eze. “It will not be easy, but we want to avoid relegation at all costs.
“It will be the most important game of my football career.”
