Al Arabi and Al Sailiya are knocking on the doors of the top-four in the 2019-20 QNB Stars League season, which will kick off on July 24.
With fourth-placed Al Gharafa fourth in the standings with 28 points behind Al Duhail, Al Rayyan and Al Sadd (in that order), Al Arabi are four points adrift in fifth place and Sailiya five points in sixth.
With a top-four spot comes a berth in the Qatar Cup and the opportunity to play in the AFC Champions League.
Coached by Heimir Hallgrimsson, Al Arabi will resume the season in a Week 18 match against Al Gharafa on July 24 at the Al Janoub Stadium, with the kick-off at 4:45pm. The Dream Team have six wins, as many draws and five defeats to their name, and a positive goal difference of 3 (27 goals for and 24 against).
Al Arabi had beaten Al Khor 1-0 in Week 17 on March 6 before the long break and will look to continue from where they left off, as they are keen to break into the top-four group.
On the other hand, Sami Trabelsi’s Sailiya have recorded seven wins, two draws and eight defeats, conceding 22 goals, and scoring 19. The Peregrines will be keen to brush off the 1-2 defeat to table toppers Al Duhail on March 7, when they take on Al Wakrah at the Al Janoub Stadium on July 26 at 4:45pm.
Following their first coronavirus tests, held as per the protocol developed by the QSL in co-ordination with club authorities and approved by the Ministry of Public Health, squad members from both the clubs entered their respective team hotels and engaged in training.
Besides intense training amid repeated Covid-19 tests, Al Arabi are readying for the resumption of action by playing friendlies, having played out a 1-1 draw with Al Khor in one such game.
Trabelsi’s team beat Al Markhiya 3-0 in a friendly.
Hallgrimsson has full squad at his disposal with the return of Qatar internationals Musab Khader, Ahmed Fathy, Jassem Jaber and Yousef Abdulrazzaq after the conclusion of national team camp.
The team has great stability, with the club management renewing contracts of a number of players, including Mohamed Saad al-Badri (three seasons), Jasser Yahya (two seasons), Abdullah al-Sulaiti (until 2024), Khalifa al-Maliki (three years), Fahd Shnain (two seasons), Fahd Khalfan (two seasons), Ahmed Fathy (until 2022) and Mohamed Salah El Neel (until 2024).
Overseas professionals, such as Iranian Morteza Pouraliganji, Icelander Aron Gunnarsson, Tunisian Hamdi Harbaoui, German Pierre-Michel Lasogga and Spaniard Marc Muniesa are also continuing with the side.
Al Sailiya too succeeded in extending the contracts with their overseas professionals with the exception of Moroccan Mubarak Boussoufa and the squad is complete with the recovery of injured players.
The team relies mainly on Algerian Nadir Belhadj, Iranian Karim Ansari, Senegalese Serigne Mbodji, Majdi Siddiq, Maher Yousef, Mohamed Muddather, Mostafa Abdelhafiz and Ghanem al-Qahtani.
While Al Sailiya and Al Arabi will play each other in Week 21 of the competition, the former’s other remaining matches are against Al Shahania (Week 19), Al Rayyan (Week 20) and Umm Salal (Week 22). Al Arabi’s other remaining matches are against Al Rayyan (Week 19), Al Wakrah (Week 20) and Qatar SC (Week 22).