Between them they\u2019ve won all but one of the past 15 league titles and together provide the bulk of the Qatar national team that just qualified for next year\u2019s FIFA World Cup. In Al Sadd\u2019s case, they also have one of the best players on the continent in Akram Afif.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It wasn\u2019t that long ago that Al Sadd made back-to-back semi-finals (2018 and 2019), while they were quarter-finalists just last season. Al Duhail, meanwhile, were semi-finalists as recently as 2022. These are sides that should be competing at the pointy end of this competition each and every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If anyone was going to provide a challenge to the dominance of the Saudi clubs, particularly in the western zone, it was expected that the Qatari duo would be two who could do it. And yet, after three games, both are still winless and sitting outside the Top 8 that advance to the knockout rounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Al Duhail, to be fair, have played both Al Hilal and Al Ahli in their opening three games, the top two as it stands in the western zone. But that is the challenge of the new League Stage format, there are no easy games. Every game is a designed to be a challenge and as it stands, it\u2019s one that both Al Sadd and Al Duhail are unable to rise to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cast your mind back just a few months and Sharjah were toasting continental success in the form of the AFC Champions League Two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It might \u2018only\u2019 have been the second-tier continental competition, but it was continental silverware nonetheless and gave them an incredible springboard into this year\u2019s competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But a change of coach, necessitated by Cosmin Olariou\u2019s secondment to the national team, has failed to keep the momentum going. Milo\u0161 Milojevi\u0107 was a shrewd appointment given his recent success with Al Wasl, but for whatever reason the Serbian is struggling to implement his ideas 30km north in Sharjah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\u2019ve won just one game in the ACL Elite this season, a 4-3 classic against Al Gharafa, scoring twice in second half stoppage time to turn a 2-3 deficit into a 4-3 win. But not even the euphoria of that victory has been able to improve their fortunes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Domestically they\u2019re already nine points off the pace after just six games, sitting a lowly tenth and closer to the relegation zone than the top three and face the daunting prospect of Shabab Al Ahli this week, who they battled with so fiercely for silverware on multiple fronts last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite only being in charge for a matter of months, in an interview with AD Sports TV after their 0-5 hammering at the hands of Iran\u2019s Tractor, Milojevi\u0107 looked bereft of ideas, unable to explain his side\u2019s poor run of form and almost resigned to his fate. \u201cThe game was closer to 7-0 or 8-0 than 5-1, so for me the most painful I feel for me from the first day we didn\u2019t improve at all, we leak so many goals in our net and we have so many difficulties to create against an organised defence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m not saying it\u2019s a problem to lose, it\u2019s a problem to give up. And we gave up. We gave up after 2-0 when there was still 75-80 minutes to go, and this is something that is unacceptable. This is not just the case today, this is a cumulative process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He continued: \u201cThere is not a good infection in the team, we choose the games (when we play well), we choose when to start the game (well) and we are not fair to ourselves, to our supporters or anyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theasiangame.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ACL-ELITE-10.png?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAll is not well at Sharjah<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theasiangame.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ACL-ELITE-6.png?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOf course it\u2019s a problem to lose the game, but (also) how we lose,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n