DOHA: Ninth-placed Al Wakrah today will look to pick up three points against Al Sailiya as Qatar Stars League (QSL) matches resume following a two-week break.
Al Wakrah, who have just one win out of four games, host Al Sailiya in a round five game today.
“We are playing a difficult team, a tough opponent,” Al Wakrah coach Jose Mauricio said yesterday.
“They are of a similar level as us in the table. The game will be difficult because they have good players. We have to try our best to take three points from this game,” he added.
“Al Sailiya played well but they didn’t have good results because they played good opponents. We have tried to use this two-week break to help our injured players recover and also continue training,” the coach added.
“We have had good sessions and also looked to resolve mistakes from our earlier games. We are happy with our first good result and we want to continue in the same vein,” he said.
“Of course this win will give us more motivation and confidence to do well and also to bring more good results for the team.
“Al Sailiya game will be difficult. They are a hard team to play. They have a very good goalkeeper complimented by the quality of the foreign players which makes for a strong spine,” Mauricio said.
“We think that we are a very good team too. We have to utilise our strengths. We are fighting and playing for the same position,” he added.
Al Sailiya coach Sami Trabelsi said his team has regrouped well during the two-week QSL break.
“We tried to use the break as much as possible to re-group,” he said. “We also tried to foster cohesion in the team. Now we will play a team that’s on the same level as us. We are looking for these three points because that can help us a lot,” he added.
“Al Wakrah hasn’t changed a lot from last season - players or tactically. We always have a difficult game against Al Wakrah. I hope that we will be ready physically and mentally for this game and take the three points,” Trabelsi added.
“For us it’s a good thing to have this international break. We need to work with the whole team but we haven’t been able to do that but we still gained a lot from the league break. We have tried to prepare our players and also improve in our physical performance. That was a big issue for us in our earlier games. We had a very difficult start to the season where we played tough teams. We haven’t played teams like us so far,” Trabelsi said.
Eleventh-placed Al Sailiya have one win out of four games with three losses.
“What are we missing you ask? Well, 6-7 players who play for the national teams. When we played against Lekhwiya we were up against seven players from the Qatar national team and four players with their respective national sides,” he said.
Al Rayyan are leading the QSL points table with a tally of 12. Former champions Al Sadd are in second spot with 10 points. Lekhwiya, the defending champions, have nine points from three games.
THE PENINSULA
