Lekhwiya head coach Michael Laudrup directs his players during a training session in Doha yesterday. PICTURE: Najeer Feroke

The beginning of a football season brings with it a lot of nervous excitement and more importantly hope. And it is this optimism, felt by the players, coaches and fans alike that makes the start of every season worth the wait. The winners are eager to repeat their performance, the second bests are keen to do better and those that barely survived the drop will be hoping that this time it will be other teams who go through their pain. Then there is the matter of the newly promoted teams who will be eager to show the others that they belong here, keen to cause an upset or two along the way and earn some bragging rights.

And it is with the same script that the 2014-15 season of the Qatar Stars League kicks off today. In every league, the new season brings with it new players and new coaches to shake up things. And this season that has happened on a large scale in the QSL. There have been around five new coaches and close to 20 players who have come in to Qatar. And this is not counting the inter-team transfers that have taken place. This kind of shake-up indicates that teams have been busy stocking up on their arsenal. And now the time has come for all of that potential to be converted into results on the pitch.

 

Contenders

The biggest name to come into the QSL this season is Michael Laudrup. The Barcelona legend and former Swansea manager has taken over the reins at Lekhwiya. With his new club being the QSL defending champions, nothing less than the title will be expected from Laudrup. Though that will put him under a lot of pressure, Lekhwiya have managed to retain most of their key players. They also brought in Swansea centre-back Chico Flores to shore up their defence after the departure of Madjid Bougherra. With the core of his team intact, Laudrup will be confident that Lekhwiya can retain the title this year. They have won an incredible three titles since they came into the QSL in 2010 having missed out only in 2012 to Al Sadd when they finished second.

Sadd, under coach Hussein Ammouta had a forgettable season last time. One that saw them plagued with injuries to their key players. They ended up finishing third but they put on a strong show towards the end of the season which saw them win the Emir and also qualify for the quarterfinals of the prestigious Asian Champions League – the only team from Qatar to do so. They also won the Sheikh Jassim Cup by defeating Lekhwiya and will be high on confidence. Their new Brazilian signing Luiz Muriqui scored a brace in that match and his quick integration into the team will boost the morale of the team. They will be looking at Muriqui to fill up the absence of Raul who left the club last season. And with them having retained Nadir Belhadj last season’s Player of the Year, Sadd are in good shape and will be confident about posting a strong challenge for the title.

El Jaish, who finished second last season, will hope to do one better this season. Coach Nabil Maaloul was brought in to rescue the team in January last year and has done just that, having won the Qatar Cup last season. A team that has a lot of young, local talent, Jaish will be hoping that their youngsters will step up to the task and deliver the title this time. Jaish have brought in Brazilian centre-back Lucas Mendes and will be looking to maintain their strong defensive record which saw them concede only 27 goals last season – the least among the QSL teams. However they will need their striker Wagner Ribeiro to score more goals. Jaish managed to score only 39 goals which put them in eighth place in the QSL when it came to goals scored last season. A little more tooth in attack is what Jaish needs if they want to win the title this season.

The title should be a battle between these three teams but there are the dark horses who will be more than eager to spoil the party. Al Sailiya had a great last season which saw them finish a commendable fourth. In fact if Sadd hadn’t produced a strong performance towards the end, Sailiya could have got the third spot on the podium. And this is due to their Tunisian coach Sami Trabelsi. And his effort to turnaround the fortunes of Sailiya from being at the bottom of the table in 2012 to a fourth place finish was rewarded with Trabelsi being voted as QSL’s Best Coach of last season.

Al Arabi finished fifth last season but the management wasn’t happy with that result and brought in Dan Petrescu to replace coach Paulo Cesar. The former Chelsea player and Dynamo Moscow manager will be expected to utilise his managerial experience to push Arabi up the order. They have managed to acquire the services of Swansea midfielder Pablo Hernandez and also Fulham’s Ashkan Dejagah. They also have signed Brazilian striker Paulinho. Arabi now have the big names to improve on their performance but considering that this Petrescu’s first stint in the Gulf, he may need to adapt quickly to ensure results for his team.

Al Ahli are the other club that will be looking to continue their winning momentum from last season where they finished a strong sixth. Coming from the Qatar Gas League (QGL), coach Milan Macala, one of the most experienced coaches in QSL, has turned his team into a battling unit which has delivered the results. However one area for concern is their porous defence which let in 50 goals last season. Only Muaither with 69 goals conceded have done worse last season. But coach Macala will be hoping to extract better performances this season. Add to that that they have managed to retain the services of striker Alain Dioko who won the Mansour Muftah award for scoring 22 goals last season. Ahli will be looking to get past the defensive frailties of last season and finish up the order.

Al Kharaitiyat and Al Khor are the two teams which can spring a few surprises and teams will be wary of playing against them. But both teams will be eager to avoid a finish like last season where they had to endure a nervous last set of matches to ensure they stayed in the QSL.

Muaither and Al Rayyan were the two teams that were relegated with the latter being the big shock considering they were a powerhouse of Qatar football at one point.

Their places have been taken by Al Shamal and Al Shahaniya – winners and runners-up of the QGL last season. This will be the second time that Shamal have been promoted to the QSL. However they will be keen to prevent a repeat of their last time in Qatar’s top league where they managed only eight points and were relegated. But coach Silvio Diliberto will be hopeful that they can make their second chance count. Shamal have secured the services of Sailiya striker Mamouni Dagano and will be hoping his goal scoring abilities continue with them too.

Shahaniya will be playing in their first QSL season and they too will be eager to ensure they stay in the league next season. Shahaniya have hired the services of high-profile coach Miguel Lotina who has been at the helm of teams like Espanyol, Real Sociedad, Osasuna and Deportivo La Coruna. The team will be hoping Lotina can use his wealth of experience to prevent relegation.

Three title contenders, two dark horses, two newly promoted teams and a bunch of teams looking to spoil the party for the bigger teams make this season’s QSL nothing short of a blockbuster movie. Expect sub-plots galore but one thing’s for sure – there will be a lot of drama. Game on then.

 

 

 

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