As the first salvos are fired today in the 2018-19 domestic football season with the traditional curtain-raiser, the Sheikh Jassim Cup, Al Duhail and Al Rayyan will be keen to shake off their summer rust and lay a marker for what is going to be a lengthy 10 months ahead.
The season is starting a few weeks early this year in order to accommodate several international events, among them the Asian Games beginning in Indonesia mid-August and the Asian Cup in the UAE earlier next year.
Al Duhail have been the dominant team over the past few years, while Al Rayyan have fallen off the radar a wee bit, just about managing to hang in there among the top four last in the last two seasons after their stunning league triumph in 2015-2016.
The last time Al Rayyan won a cup tournament was in 2013 when they claimed both the Sheikh Jassim Cup and the Amir Cup, and they would be more than eager to make up for their lapses and close calls with glory in the following years.
Their appearance in the Sheikh Jassim Cup today also has a quirk to it. Also dubbed the ‘Super Cup’, it is played between the League and Amir Cup winners of the previous season. But because Duhail won both tournaments, they will play Al Rayyan for the title as the latter were the Amir Cup runners-up!
Both teams were in Europe preparing for the season and have only returned a few days back. With Al Duhail’s long-serving and highly successful coach Djamel Belmadi taking up the reins of the Algerian national side and Al Rayyan’s Michael Laudrup also leaving, the new bosses have some really big boots to fill.
Nabil Maaloul, who coached Tunisia at the recent World Cup, and has now taken up the hot seat at Al Duhail, was candid enough to acknowledge that at his press conference yesterday.
“I know Al Duhail has achieved great success under Belmadi. He has been a strong coach who followed a great work ethic. I’ll also go along with his methodology and try to maintain the level of the team and maybe also enhance it,” the Tunisian said.
“Tomorrow’s match is going to be a tough one. We prepared for a few weeks in Europe but coming out of the off-season is also not that easy. We have a busy schedule ahead, with the QNB Stars League and our Asian Champions League quarter-finals coming up”.
Al Duhail will be also without their talisman Youssef Msakni who suffered a serious knee ligament injury in his knee towards the end of last season and had to miss the World Cup for Tunisia.
“Surely he will be missed. Youssef is still recuperating after surgery and will be only back in November or December. Until then we have to cope without him,” said Maaloul.
But they have plenty of other stars on their roster who have the ability to win matches on their own – like Youssef El Arabi, the top scorer last season with 26 goals, Nam Tae-hee and the young Bassam al-Rawi.
Al Rayyan’s new coach Rodolfo Arruabarrena, however, has no such luxuries as his star striker Abderrazzak Hamdalla is doubtful for the match with an ankle injury he suffered at the end of the last season.
Hamdalla was their top performer last season and although they have veterans Rodrigo Tabata and Sebastian Soria, they have been often inconsistent in the past. Also, age is against both players, with Tabata now 37 and Soria 34. They will have to be managed sensibly if they are to last the whole season.
Argentinian Arruabarrena, who has coached Boca Juniors and also UAE’s Al Wasl, is on his first stint with a Qatari club and is eager to make a good first impression.
“I may be new here but I have followed Qatari football while I was with Al Wasl in the UAE,” Arruabarrena said yesterday.
“Al Rayyan are one of the top teams in the country with a very strong fan following. I am aware of the challenges and we will aim to meet them with a positive frame of mind.
“The Sheikh Jassim Cup is the first tournament of the year and we would like to win it, for sure.”