‘I’m not upset about the loss of the two points because I can only see the good performance of the team’

Al Sailiya should be going all out against leaders Al Duhail as they badly need to make a turnaround in their fortunes, having lost the last two games in the QNB Stars League.
The two teams face each other in an early kick-off at 4pm at Al Ahli Stadium today.
It’s going to be a tactical battle between Tunisian coach Sami Trabelsi, who has been at the helm of The Peregrines for long, and Algerian Djamel Belmadi.
Trabelsi has at his disposal the likes of Temurkhuja Abdukholiqov, Wagner Ribeiro, Valentin Lazar and Nadir Belhadj.
Belmadi, whose team tops the standings with 28 points, has said they were taking the Sailiya challenge seriously and keen on extending their winning run as the first phase of the competition ends this week.
Al Duhail’s aces are captain Youssef Msakni, top scorer Youssef El Arabi and playmaker Nam Tae-Hee.
Al Sailiya have 18 points so far.
The match will be followed by the clash between Al Ahli, who have 11 points, and Al Rayyan at the venue at 6:10pm.
Al Rayyan, who have 25 points to their name, had to play out a 1-1 draw with Umm Salal. Their woes were compounded when star striker Abdurazzaq Hamdallah limped out early in the match with a pulled thigh muscle. He has been ruled out against Al Ahli.
The Moroccan joined the injury list, which already had Ahmed al-Saadi, Sultan al-Kuwari and Ziad Ali. Nevertheless, they have players such as Rodrigo Tabata and Sebastian Soria to do the trick.
“I’m not upset about the loss of the two points because I can only see the good performance of the team. The season is still long. The loss of two points in the top race doesn’t bother me,” said Al Rayyan coach Michael Laudrup.
Al Ahli would look to keep winning after their upset victory over Al Sailiya in the last round.
Finally, The Brigadiers have all their professionals playing together after a long spell of injuries and international commitments.
In the other late kick-off, Al Kharaitiyat play Al Sadd at Al Khor Stadium.
Al Kharaitiyat would like to bounce back from their shock loss to Qatar SC, who were lying at the bottom, but have a herculean task at hand as they run into 13-time league champions Al Sadd, who occupy the third position with 24 points.
Moroccan striker Rachid Tiberkanine leads the charge of Egyptian coach Ahmad al-Ajlani’s side.
Al Sadd coach Jesualdo Ferreira sounded pleased with their victory over Al Khor and the Portuguese would be hoping they no longer drop points while pursuing the title.
“My goal now is to take the team back to the level where we were during last season. The absence of some players affected our performance a lot in the last few games. When we got back Pedro (Miguel), we lost (Baghdad) Bounedjah. I’m not able to play (Boualem) Khoukhi in his position because of these absences. I am confident that the team will be able to return to its true level when we play with a full team,” he said.
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