Lekhwiya players during a training session yesterday ahead of their opening match of the 2014-15 QSL season against Qatar Sports Club. The match, to be played at the Lekhwiya Stadium today, will begin at 6:30pm. Picture: Najeer Feroke
By Sahan Bidappa/Doha
It’s never easy to manage a champion side. For a team that has often tasted more success than failure, the expectations are always high. Back-to-back defeats, even a draw, are considered nothing short of a debacle.
David Moyes found that out with Manchester United last season after he replaced Sir Alex Ferguson, who led United to great heights in his 26-and-a-half years as the club’s manager. Moyes didn’t even last a season after United slumped to seventh in the EPL.
For Qatar Stars League (QSL) champions Lekhwiya, it’s a somewhat similar situation. They will be hoping their new manager, Michael Laudrup, will keep their reputation intact.
Lekhwiya, founded as Al Shorta Doha, won promotion to the First Division at the end of the 2009-10 season. And much to everyone’s surprise, they created history by winning the QSL in their debut season. Since then, they have been champions twice more, which means the only time they failed to finish first was in 2012-13 season.
So quite naturally, Lekhwiya’s way of measuring success is set high. While Belgian coach Eric Gerets, who managed Lekhwiya for the last two seasons, was no Ferguson, he did lead them to glory last season impressively as the champions notched up 16 victories in 26 matches.
However, Gerets’ inability to lead his team to winning the other trophies—Sheikh Jassim Cup, QNB Cup, Qatar Cup, Asian Champions League or the Emir Cup—meant he had to leave.
Laudrup knows a thing or two about being amongst champions. The 50-year-old Dane, during his playing career, won league titles with high-profile clubs like Ajax, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus. Though his managerial stint has proved less successful—he was sacked by English Premier League side Swansea City earlier this year—Laudrup will be aware of Lekhwiya’s expectations from him.
Laudrup’s first challenge in the QSL will be against Qatar SC today, who Lekhwiya will play at home in their opening game.
“It’s always exciting to experience new things, be it as a coach or as a player. And I am looking forward to the start of the league as well, since we started our preparations from the first week of July. We had players out on national duty but we had the rest of the players with us for training. It’s been six-and-a-half weeks of good preparation,” said Laudrup, who signed a one-year contract in July.
But it’s not been an ideal start for Laudrup as his side lost to Al Sadd in the season-opening Sheikh Jassim Cup clash last week. They also had to do with little match practice after a lacklustre pre-season camp in Austria and injuries to key players. Last season, under Gerets, they were mediocre in the beginning but picked up the pace later as they finished five points clear of El Jaish.
However, this season they can seldom afford to start on a slow note, as they are likely to lose out on Qatari players in the latter part of the season.
Most of their local players are set to feature in a series of international friendlies for the Qatar national squad in the build-up to the Gulf Cup and the Asian Cup, which means they will be forced to rely mainly on their foreign imports and bench strength.
Ahead of today’s match, Lekhwiya were concerned by the unavailability of some key players. Karim Boudiaf is an unlikely starter for the opening few matches at least as he is yet to recover from the surgery he had at the end of last year, while Slovakia’s Vladimir Weiss is out of Qatar SC clash due to suspension.
Lekhwiya though will be boosted by the arrival of Spanish centre-back Chico Flores from Swansea, which will be a reunion with Laudrup. The 27-year-old replaced Algerian centre-back Madjid Bougherra, who left at the end of the last season. They also have reliable South Korean Nam Tae-Hee, who played a crucial role last season by emerging as the top-scorer with 13 goals and has formed a lethal midfield combination with Tunisian Youssef Msakni.
On the other hand, Qatar SC, who finished a disappointing 10th last season, would want to start on a winning note.
The 2002-03 champions’ only other moment of triumph came last season at the Qatar Stars Cup, but they have been hampered by the inability to put the ball into the back of the net as regularly as they would have liked. Three Brazilian players—Marcinho, Adriano and Douglas—as well as South Korean midfielder Shin-Jin Ho have left the club.
Tunisian striker Hamdi Harbaoui, Algerian defender Rafik Halliche, and South Korean midfielders Cho Young-Cheol and Han Kook-Young are their new signings.
But it won’t be an easy task for their Czech manager Ivan Hasek, who came in place of Brazilian Sebastiao Lazaroni, who departed at the end of last season.
Lack of quality Qatari players in their side will also be a stumbling block for Qatar SC as they aim for resurgence in the league, which they last won 11 seasons ago.