Umm Salal’s head coach Bulent Uygun (right) and midfielder Fabio Cesar during a press conference in Doha yesterday. Right: Qatar Sports Club’s head coach Sebastiao Lazaroni (right) with team’s goalkeeper Sami Hasawi.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Umm Salal will be aiming to consolidate fourth position when they take on Al Wakrah in the Qatar Stars League tonight. With only one defeat from nine matches Bulent Uygun’s side are sitting pretty with 16 points, and with Al Arabi close behind on fifth on goal difference, will be aiming to break clear and close the gap on Al Sadd who are third on 21.
“We have had a good run in the last few games. Our last game against Ahli was a difficult one. We wanted to win but we could only manage one point in the end. The game against Wakrah is very important for us. We are looking to win the match and take three points from it,” coach Uygun told a press conference yesterday.
“We are in a good place in the table and our ambition is to be in a better place. We need to win the next two games and take maximum points because these games will be important in defining our destiny this season. At Umm Salal we are looking to give our maximum and do our best this season,” he added.
Uygun said the fact that he has no injuries to worry about means he can aim for a top four spot when the tournament ends. “We are ready. We don’t have any absences and we are looking forward to this game. We have good players who put in a lot of work every day. Our ambition is to stay in the top 4 and to keep our place now that we are here. Maybe we will bring other players during the winter transfer window to make our team gets stronger.”
Al Wakrah, who are languishing in ninth place, know they have an uphill task at hand and head coach Jose Mauricio was candid enough to admit it. “This will be a difficult game for us. Umm Salal are in fourth position in the table and has lost just one game this season. They are a good team, having a good balance in defence and attack. But we will try to capitalise on the few problems that Salal seem to have in attack,’ said Mauricio.“We have tried to prepare our full team. We have some small injuries but we will see who is fit just before the match.”
In today’s second match, the spotlight will be on Qatar Sports Club after as they conceded nine goals against Al Rayyan last week. Coach Sebastião Lazaroni will have a huge job on his hands to motivate his players to bounce back from the humiliation.
“We are trying to work with the players physically, psychologically and tactically. We are ashamed about the last performance. But the good thing is that defeat is not eternal. We have the next game to look forward to. I hope that we have the capacity to react and show better qualities during the game against Sailiya. It will not be easy,” Lazaroni said.
“As for the last game, we are human beings. But the past is past and we will try to focus and turn a new page with better performances.
“The one lesson that we have to learn is that, it doesn’t matter how many times we fall down. What’s important is that we get up and look ahead towards the next game.
“During training we showed the players the mistakes that they made. We discussed with them in an honest and frank way about how to rectify their mistakes. We have to ensure that we don’t commit the same mistakes again. Losing is part of football but you have to learn from your mistakes.”
Al Sailiya assistant coach Amin Farekha also has some catching up to do after suffering a 3-1 defeat against Al Gharafa last week.
“After our defeat against Gharafa we are focusing on our next game, we have tried to prepare our team both offensively and defensively. Our last two games weren’t good. There were some mistakes which we did during games which cost us heavily. We tried to solve our problems in defence during training,” said Farekha.
“Qatar SC are coming from a large defeat but they are still a team that we respect. And they will be looking at this match to produce a reaction. So we will have to be wary about that. Yesterday our president had a team meeting where he spoke with the players and the staff. It was a good meeting and it motivated the players. The president talked to them and told them that he has total confidence in them.”
