Markhiya’s Adam prepares for tough relegation battle

AlMarkhiya coach Yousef Adam is hoping that his team’s experience in theQSL Cup pays off when they take on Al Ahli in the QNB Stars Leaguetoday.With just one win from seven matches to their credit, it willbe a big ask for them to stay in the tournament after being promoted tothe top flight this season.“The QSL Cup matches played during thebreak enabled us to try out various combinations and test more youngplayers. We now have a team capable of competing with big sides. We’veprepared well for this match and some players are back after doingnational duties,” said Adam.“In the league this season, we’ve twosets of teams. One group is fighting to be on top and the other isbattling to avoid relegation. The tough relegation battle makes thetournament overall exciting,” he added.Adam knows a thing or two about his rivals Al Ahli, whom he has coached in the past.“I’mnot underestimating Al Alhi, whom I’ve coached. They’re one of the bigteams in Qatar and have the potential to finish in the top half of thetable. Both sides have more or less same strength and same number ofpoints.“Our new players (defender Bilal Mohammed and midfielder AnasMubarak from Al Gharafa) and striker Abdulqadir Ilyas on loan from AlDuhail) are good additions to the squad. Probably the much-experiencedBilal will play his first match for us against Al Ahli.“I’ll have tosee if our main striker from Ghana, Kwame Karikari, is fit to play thisgame as he just did duty for his country,” he said.  Al Ahli coach Joaquin Caparros labeled Al Markhiya as a “tricky” side. “Again,it’s a difficult game for us because Al Markhiya are a tricky team. Andthey proved it when we faced off in the QSL Cup recently and we hadindeed a tough time. They can cause upsets. They’ve proved that, “ saidCaparros, who also praised rival coach Adam. “They’ve a good coachin Yousef Adam, who knows the ins and outs of the game in Qatar. He hascoached Al Ahli and knows the styles of many of our players. on thecompetition front, both teams are in the bottom half and looking forthree points desperately. That should make this contest interesting.“Thismatch is going to be our real launch in this season’s QNB Stars Leagueas we’ll hopefully be fielding all four professional players togetherfor the first time. We couldn’t do it because of injuries to them fromtime to time.”