El Jaish player Abdul Rahman al-Baker and coach Nabil Maaloul. Right: Al Wakrah striker Sebastian Saez with coach Maher al-Kanzari during yesterday’s pre-match press conference. PICTURES: Jayan Orma
By Joe Koraith/Doha
Last season, in the Qatar Stars League, El Jaish was the team which gave eventual champions Lekhwiya a good run for their money.
In the end though, Lekhiwya proved to be too strong but Jaish will be looking to go one better this time.
Today, as they take on Al Wakrah, they will be extremely keen to get a winning start.
And they have a strong reason to put in more effort in the initial stages of the new season. During last season, Jaish started with two draws and then pulled off a win against Al Sadd. But after that things went downhill with them losing six matches in a row.
This losing streak prompted the management to sack their Romanian coach Razvan Lucescu. They brought in Nabil Maaloul and the Tunisian was not only able to arrest the decline but also revived the team.
Jaish ended up five points short of Lekhwiya. If the ‘Soldiers’, as Malooul’s boys are called, had had a better start, they could have probably ended up winning the title.
“We had a decent start last season but then had a few problems. We need to be careful to avoid that this time. We need to take our first three points tomorrow. For us the key is the first seven games,” said coach Maaloul during the pre-match press conference yesterday.
Maaloul said his team has had intensive training sessions and were well prepared for the gruelling season ahead.
“We had a two-step training program. The first was in Doha. And for the second one we went to Brazil.
“We had intensive sessions there, including workouts at 4am in the morning during Ramadan. I would like to congratulate the players for putting in their maximum.
“We have worked hard to improve our physical side, our fitness. We know the championship is going to be difficult but we have prepared ourselves well,” said the Tunisian.
Jaish are looking to get off to a good start and their opponents Wakrah know that it will be a tough ask to try and stop the Soldiers.
Wakrah only managed to finish in eighth place last season. Their start was worse than Jaish, having gone for 15 games without a win.
It was only a strong showing in their last couple of games that saw them avoid getting relegated. They too have had a change of coach mid-term with Iraqi Adnan Derjal resigning, to be replaced by Tunisian Maher al-Kanzari.
The positive from last season from Wakrah was their striker Sebastian Saez, who with 18 goals was the league’s second highest scorer.
And Wakrah will be hoping that his rich form continues.
Coach al-Kanzari is hoping for a more consistent performance from his team this season.
“Wakrah always plays for the middle of the table. We are not a big team to challenge for the title. But neither are we a team that should be fighting to save relegation.
“In the last three years we have had a good start and then we have fizzled out. I hope this year we put in a more consistent performance,” said al-Kanzari.
“During the season all teams have some good periods and some bad. We will have difficult periods this year too but we hope to keep that to a minimum,” he added.
And though Jaish are favourites going into this match, al-Kanzari coach feels that both teams have a chance to win the game.
“Both teams have the chances to win this game. But it will be the team that will be ready physically who will end up winners,” said al-Kanzari.
