Doha: The final round of the Qatar Stars League (QSL) will have plenty of drama in store for us despite Lekhwiya clinching the title.
Round 26 sees the relegation tussles going to the wire with either Al Shahaniya or Al Wakrah getting the boot.
Wakrah coach Goran Tufegdzic said that his team was focussed in their pursuit ahead of the crunch relegation deciding match today.
“I have to say that nobody has more motivation than our team to stay in the league. We have to be more aggressive - in a positive way of course. Gharafa have lost two matches in a row and they will have the motivation to win,” Tufegdzic said.
“I had a meeting with the players and I said in the last match against Khor we should have done much, much better. We needed to play with more energy. We have to be more aggressive and positive and we will get the results. Against Khor we conceded the first goal and then the match became too open and we lost our formation. I have talked to my players and told them not to repeat this mistake against Gharafa,” he added.
Al Shahaniya is level on points with Al Wakrah but the Waves have a superior goal difference of 10 goals.
This means that if both teams lose it would be Shahaniya that would go down, unless they manage to score six and Wakrah were to concede heavily in their clash against Al Gharafa.
If both teams were to have equal goal difference after round 26, then Shahaniya would stay up due to winning both encounters against Al Wakrah this season. To add to the excitement both matches will be played at the same time so neither side will know who will stay up until the final whistle has sounded.
Al Ahli who faces Shahaniya today lost to Lekhwiya in the last round, this allowed the Red Knights to claim their fourth Qatar Stars League title in five seasons, so the Brigadiers will be eager to end the season on a high.
Shahaniya have drawn their last two games whilst Ahli have lost their last two. However Ahli are in 6th place and so clearly have more experience winning in the top division. So at the Grand Hamad Stadium there will either tear of sorrow or of joy for the Oryxes.
Meanwhile Al Gharafa interim coach Habib Sadiq, who has been handed over the reigns by the club administration after head coach Marcos Paqueta’s departure, will be looking for a turnaround.
“I will continue his work. For me it’s not new. I have been with the club for a long time. I know everything about the club and I am ready to help the team. This game comes after two defeats and we will try to prepare the players mentally because in two days you cannot really work on physical aspect or tactics,” Sadiq said.
“This is a very crucial game for Wakrah but it is also important for us because we want to stay in the fifth place. So we will try to prepare our team to show a reaction after the losses and take three points,” he added.
The Peninsula
