Nam is enough: Belmadi praises Korean star for title

Lekhwiya coach Djamel Belmadi hopes to win more laurels with the club after guiding them to their fifth Qatar Stars League title, and the third under his charge, at the Abdulla bin Khalifa Stadium on Thursday.
The France-born Algerian was beaming at the post-match press conference as he basked in the limelight of his success, after having gone through an emotionally draining match which saw South Korean Nam Tae-hee score the decisive goal against Al Ahli in second-half stoppage time for a 2-1 win.
Had Nam missed the opportunity, Lekhwiya would have had to wait until the final day of the tournament as close rivals Al Sadd were held to a 2-2 draw by Al Sailiya thus maintaining the slender two-point difference between the top two teams.
But as it turned out, the six minutes of added time came as a boon for Lekhwiya with Nam exploiting a defensive error by the Al Ahli Goalkeeper off a corner to drill the ball into the back of the net and spark wild celebrations at the ground.
The 95th minute goal ensured Lekhwiya won the title with one match to spare, and Belmadi was effusive in his praise for his star midfielder played a pivotal role for the team throughout the season.
Nam had been under the weather but decided to play the match, eliciting a special mention from Belmadi.
“Nam is a special player for us. He delivers most of the time for the team and yesterday he did it again despite the fact that he was sick,” Belmadi told reporters.
“He showed great passion and commitment especially after Lekhwiya fell behind by an early goal. We owe him a great deal for our success,’ said Belmadi of Nam, who is fourth in QSL’s leading scorers’ list this season with 14 goals and has been with Lekhwiya since December 2011 after leaving French Ligue 1 team Nancy who drafted him when he was just 18 years old.
Belmadi said he was confident that the team would nail the title on Thursday itself.
“I said to the players before the match that we could become the champions and we did it,” he said. “We were well-poised for the title and Nam was the main reason for the victory. I am proud of this special group of players.
“I expected a scenario like this to happen and we were prepared for all possible scenarios, but what we were most interested in was to achieve victory and we succeeded despite the fact that the match was not easy.”
The Lekhwiya boss said he would be now turning his attention to the Asian Champions League, where they play Iran’s Esteghlal Khuzestan next week in Doha and of course the upcoming Qatar Cup and Emir Cup tournaments.
 “We have an important match in the AFC champions League against Esteghlal Khuzestan team after four days and we will begin to prepare for it from tomorrow,” he said.
“Winning the league will reduce the pressure on the players and motivate them to perform at a special level in the Asian championship.
“However, we focus on all tournaments and try to win as many titles as possible. That is always our goal. We have the Qatar Cup and the Emir Cup coming up and the league win will give us further motivation to do well in these events.”
On a personal level he said it was a ‘big honour’ for him to win the title for the third time with Lekhwiya. “This is my third title as a coach in the Qatar Stars League and that is a big honour. I am very happy about this achievement.”
Meanwhile, team manager Walid Bakhit attributed the team’s success to the hard work they put in since the tournament began.
“Since the season started everyone was working hard in order to regain the title and thank God we achieved what we wanted,” said Bakhit.
“We are waiting for the real coronation in the upcoming round when we will have a real celebration.”
Meanwhile, the Esteghlal Khuzestan team arrived in Doha yesterday for their AFC Champions League match against Lekhwiya.
The delegation is headed by Gawad Habib, chairman of the board of directors of the club.