Umm Salal coach Bulent Uygun (left) and Al Khor coach Jean Fernandez during the pre-match press conferences.

By Sports Reporter/Doha


Sixth-placed Umm Salal will be looking to pick up a win against Al Khor today when the two sides clash in a round 14 match in the Qatar Stars League (QSL).   
Umm Salal, who have just one win from the last five rounds, are eager to beat Al Khor at Al Gharafa Stadium. “We are ready to play against Al Khor, come back to winning ways and reach our target to get to the Asian Champions League,” coach Bulent Uygun said on Saturday as he underlined the club’s intention to stay in the top four of QSL points race.   
“The last two games we played were in a short period. It was difficult for players. Last game against Kharaitiyat we lost. We have a good team and we are ready to play well,” Uygun said.   
“We will miss some players like Nasser Khalfan who has joined the Olympic team. But we have players that can replace them. And we will try together to play a good game and take full points,” Uygun said.   
Umm Salal coach said teams need to come together and talk about fitness issues in QSL.   
“There are somethings in Qatar football that we have to talk about. Almost all the teams, when they reach the 60-minute mark in the game, the physical level drops. But there are a few teams which have good physical players and they are able to do well. But the rest of the teams suffer,” Uygun said.   
Al Khor coach Jean Fernandez said his 12th-placed side needs to supplement last week’s win against Al Gharafa.   
“We still have two games before the break and we have to take the maximum points. We are playing Umm Salal who don’t concede a lot of goals and don’t lose too many matches either,” Fernandez said on Saturday.   
“They have good players and so this match will be difficult for us,” Fernandez added.   
“The victory in the last game has given us a lot of confidence. We played a good game against Al Gharafa and we knew how to win that game. The players put in a good performance, showed good team spirit and now we are looking to bring this same level to the Umm Salal game.   
“We know that games are different but we are looking to play with the same team spirit that we showed against Al Gharafa. We scored two goals and didn’t concede any. So we will be looking to take all of those positives into this game,” Fernandez said.   
“Of course Umm Salal will have a reaction after their loss in the previous game.They are a good team and hadn’t lost for a long time. So they will try to come back quickly,” he added.
Now to see what happens today.

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