Al Shamal coach Silvio D’Alberto (centre) with player Hassan Mahmoud (right) ahead of their match against Al Shahaniya at the The Emir Cup. PICTURE: Naushad Thekkayil
By Joe Koraith/Doha
The beauty of Cup competitions in football is that it gives the teams from lower divisions to pit their skills against the teams playing in the main league. And there have been enough stories around the world of smaller teams punching way above their weight in these competitions.
The Emir Cup begins today with the clubs from the Qatar Gas League looking to take the fight to their premier clubs in the Qatar Stars League. The first match of the 2014 Emir Cup will see Al Shamal take on Al Shahaniya at the Al Arabi Sports Club.
And this match presents a very interesting battle. Both these teams have earned promotion to the Qatar Stars League this season and are keen to prove that they belong here. And this Emir Cup presents both teams with a great chance to know how they fare against the QSL clubs and iron out the flaws before the next season begins. “We are not here to be eliminated in the first round like other second division clubs. Our aim is to reach the third round,” said Shamal coach Silvio D’Alberto during the pre-match press conference yesterday.
It helps that Shamal are playing a familiar opponent in Shahaniya and that they have never lost against their opponents in the Qatar Gas League. But coach D’Alberto says he is wary of his opposition despite the positive record. “We know their players. We know their strengths and weaknesses. But so do they. So we will try and close out the gaps and play to our strengths.”
Great success
Gaining promotion to the QSL is a great success but now the bigger challenge begins – of staying in the league. And coach D’Alberto wants to go the Al Ahli way rather than the Muaither way.
Ahli were promoted last season and put in strong performances to finish sixth this season. Muaither, on the other hand, were only able to register four wins and were relegated after just one season in the QSL.
“We won 14 games in the Qatar Gas League and we are keen to continue the good run into the QSL. There is definitely a big difference as compared to the teams in the QSL but we have some good players who can play to that level. We would like to follow the example of Al Ahli. They did well this season and we would like to do the same,” said D’Alberto.
“We need to have a good preparation and a good evaluation of our team. We then need to reinforce based on that knowledge and then we can do a good job in the QSL. We have strong players in every position and that will work to our advantage,” the Shamal coach added.
D’Alberto is also banking on his defence to bring him the results and hopes that it will hold out against the best strikers in the QSL. “Our defence in the Qatar Gas League was one of the strongest. I am feeling pretty confident looking at my bench. But we need to reinforce the defence more. The level in QSL is higher and we have to see how our defence does against those QSL teams, especially against strikers like Dagano (Moumouni Dagano – Al Sailiya striker),” he said.
We can only find out how good we are by testing against the good teams. Our defence hasn’t come under too much pressure. Once we play the big clubs will we know how we fare against the best attacks in the league,” he added.
To upset the applecart
Shahaniya meanwhile are counting on this being a new competition to upset the applecart and defeat Shamal.
“The players have worked very hard this season to get into the QSL. Shamal is very good team but now this is a new competition. Everybody at Shahaniya has been working and training hard for this game. This game my players will play without pressure and we will have a good game,” said Shahaniya coach Alexander Gama.
Shahaniya player Saad Hussein went a step further and said that his team was looking at it as a chance to get back at Shamal for the two losses in the QGL. We have lost twice. This is a revenge game for us. We will do our best to win this game. We have scored ten goals in the last two games and conceded only once. That is a good record for us. I am sure the coach will set a good defensive strategy for this game,” said Hussein.
All of these ingredients make for a very delicious recipe for the opening match of the Emir Cup today. Rest assured it will be a keenly contested battle. The second match will be between Mesaimeer and Al Markhiya.
