The Syrians, who won the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2004, suffered a 1-0 home defeat to Kuwaitis Kazma in the opening game of the group last month and face a difficult task to claim three points against a Nasaf side that demolished Al Ahed 4-0 in their first match.

And though Odisho is aware of the enormity of the task facing his side against Nasaf, he remains confident they can still get the points they need in the coming five games to secure their place in the knock-out stage of the tournament.

"We are disappointed with the home loss to Kazma in our first match. We deserved a better result,” he said.

“Now we are in a difficult position because we have to win at least three matches and I hope that our next match against Nasaf will be one of them.

“I’m sure that we will be second in the group after Nasaf who will win it. We watched the last match between Nasaf and Al Ahed and the Uzbekistan team played very good and are definitely the strongest in the group.”

Nasaf opened their domestic campaign with a goalless draw against Shurtan on Saturday and coach Victor Kumykov is hopeful his players will not be affected by fatigue.

The hosts have no injuries but will be without the suspended Bahodir Murtazaev after he was sent off in the game against Al Ahed.

“We have had only three days rest after our league match against Shurtan,” said Kumykov. “It is not enough for us but I hope we will do our best.”

Kumikov also warned his players not to read too much into Al Jaish’s defeat to Kazma and believes they will prove difficult opponents on Wednesday.

“We have studied Al Jaish very well and even if they lost the match against Kazma they are still a very strong team,” he added.