Qatar SC coach Radhi Shenaishil (left) and Al Kharaitiyat coach Amar Osim during the press conference yesterday.

By Sports Reporter/Doha

With just four matches left in this season’s Qatar Stars League, an exciting sprint to the finish is on the cards. All matches have something that the teams involved are playing for – from avoiding relegation to getting that lucrative top-4 spot.
Today the spotlight will be on the late match, which will be played between Qatar SC and Al Kharaitiyat. Both teams have been standout performers in this second part of the season. Qatar SC have achieved a remarkable turnaround under their new coach Radhi Shenaishil and are currently in third spot and looking for a strong finish that could see them in contention for the second spot in the table.     
Kharaitiyat were a team that was once staring relegation but they too have benefited from hiring a new coach – Amar Osim and are now comfortable in ninth place and looking for climb further in the standings.
Here are what the coaches had to say regarding this clash during the pre-match press conferences.

Qatar SC vs Al Kharaitiyat
Qatar SC coach Radhi Shenaishil
“Now we are even closer to the end of the league and so it’s important for us to keep taking as many points as we can. It’s a crucial period where we can either go on to take second place or lose third place in the process. So we have to maintain our focus. Kharaitiyat are one of the best teams in this second part of the league. Their new coach knows how to prepare the team in the best possible way for each game. So it will be a tough game for us. I think that, for us, this period is more important than the first half of the league. We have been able to take some good results and that has given our team confidence. I have talked to my players and told them that this game is very crucial when it comes to our position in the table. A win in this match will guarantee us a place in the top 4. So it’s a big match for us and I believe that my players are ready for this game.”
“When a team is experiencing good results, it’s always an easy period for the coach. But I still want more from my players. Now other teams are thinking of us in the same league as Al Sadd or Lekhwiya. So that is good for the team but that also means that we have to be prepared for a tough match every time. We will have to play with more concentration. If we end up thinking that we are the better team, then we will end up making mistakes. So it is important that we play collectively, as a single unit.”

Al Kharaitiyat coach Amar Osim
“Qatar SC is in very good form. They are playing with a lot of confidence as you can see from their results. They are the best team in the second part of the league. We also haven’t done too bad ourselves. It will be a tough match for us but it will also not be easy for Qatar SC either.”
“The initial target for us was to stay in the league. We have almost achieved that. I have to stress on almost because we still have matches left. The second target is to improve further and we will see at the end of the season where we end up. For me it’s important that the team improves and if that happens then then I will be happy.”
 “We will treat their players with respect. They deserve it definitely. However we think we have good qualities as well, so we will try to somehow show our qualities and block theirs - just like any coach would like to do.”
 “We hope we can stop Hamdi Harbaoui. He’s a player we respect a lot. He’s not only a goal scorer but he also creates chances for others. But Qatar SC are not a good team because Harbaoui is scoring. They play well as a team and as a consequence, he gets more chances and being a big player he converts those chances.”

Al Wakrah vs Al Sailiya
Al Wakrah coach Goran Tufegdzic
“Today we will have our last training session. We have done our analysis about Sailiya. We have also analysed our mistakes in our loss to Al Ahli. For us, each match is important, each point is important. In our previous match, we played well on the whole but we had a few individual mistakes which cost us the match. “
“All players are ready for the next match. No one is injured.”
“The feeling is positive in the dressing room. The team does need a little bit of luck though. Against Ahli we played well but we conceded three goals in eight minutes and that too was because of individual mistakes. We had controlled the match before that. We need our players to play with full concentration and also stick to the team strategy throughout the entire match.”
“Sailiya are a great team. Their players know how to play for results and also have a big will to win. They play aggressive - in a positive way and are always very compact in defence. It will be a very difficult match for us.”
“We have too much quality in this team to be in this position right now. We have played decent football but we have been a bit unlucky. We have four ‘finals’ left and a win tomorrow will set us moving in the right direction.”

Al Sailiya head coach Sami Trabelsi
“This is a very important game for both teams. We need to take points because we have lost quite a few in the last few games. We need to give the same performance that we had against Shahania. With so many games in such a short period, we are focusing on quick recovery of the players. Wakrah have a lot of good players with good individual quality. Hopefully we will be ready and we will have success against them.”
 “I don’t like to talk about results. Instead I will talk about the performance. We don’t have stability in our performances. We have seen that in some games, the players are playing with good fighting spirit and in the other matches we react too late. Our problem is that we don’t play all games with the same fighting spirit. In some games we take it easy and end up losing points.”
“We will try to win all games - that is a given but if we get nine points from the four remaining matches, that will satisfy me.”
“Wakrah have a lot of good players and if we see their statistics for the first half of the season, they were the best team in the league. They had good performances - individual and collective. At that time, they were even better than Sadd, Lekhwiya and other big names. But right now, the atmosphere inside the team is not so good.”
“They are in a bad state now and they will be going all out to win the remaining four games to ensure that they don’t get relegated. So that will make it difficult for us. But the pressure will still be on Wakrah and not us.”

Fixtures
Qatar SC vs Al Kharaitiyat 8:15pm
Suhaim bin Hamad Stadium

Al Wakrah vs Al Sailiya 6pm
Saoud bin Abdulrahman Stadium

(Below left) Al Wakrah coach Goran Tufegdzic. (Right) Al Sailiya coach Sami Trabelsi.