The 10th final of the Ooredoo Cup will be played between Al Sailiyah and Al Wakrah at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium today.
Al Sailiyah will be looking to defend their title while Al Wakrah will be aiming to lift the trophy for the second time in the club’s history. Al Gharafa have won the titles three times, the most by any club in Qatar.
Al Sailiyah coach Sami Trabelsi yesterday said he is expecting a ‘tough contest’ against a ‘very good side’ in Al Wakrah.
“As for the Ooredoo Cup, we played this event with a different philosophy than what we were doing in the league and thank God we managed to reach the final again,” Trabelsi said during a press conference yesterday.
“Reaching the final for the second time is a good thing and we hope that we can win despite the strength of our opponents,” Trabeli said yesterday.
“The season has been very difficult. We faced many challenges, the most prominent of which was playing the play-off match (in QNB Stars League), but with the efforts of the players, we were able to survive and cross this dangerous stage,” Trabelsi said.
“Al Wakrah are one of the best teams this season so the match will be difficult for both teams, but we are determined to win the title,” he said.
“All of my main players are ready for the match especially since the event comes at the end of the season,” he said.
Regarding his assessment of the team’s performance this season, Trabeli said yesterday: “I think that we have not been successful in most of the matches this season and one of the reasons is that we did not succeed in getting a quality scorer. Over the course of an entire division in the league, we scored only five goals, including two goals from two penalty kicks and that is a weak return.”
Al Wakrah’s Spanish coach Marques Lopez yesterday said his team remained ready to face Al Sailiya in the final.
“We feel good that we have reached the final after we reached the semi-finals last season. This is an opportunity now to compensate for the loss last year,” Lopez said during a press conference last year.
“Unlike last year, we played the semi-final this season and won. We are now in the final and it is important for us to crown our efforts throughout the season with a title win. I hope that we will be successful in winning the title,” Lopez said.
Lopez explained that the team will miss four players who are with the Qatar national team. “We have 20 other players ready and I will try to push the best ones so that they can win us the match which will not be easy at all. But I do know that all of my players are ready to give their best,” he added.“This season we changed a lot of players and signed better players. The good thing is that we always strive to win and this mentality is very important for us as members of the technical staff and the management as well,” he said.
When asked about the Al Sailiya team, Lopez said: “Al Sailiya was suffering all season in the league but they managed to reach the play-off match and managed to stay in the league. We respect them because they are a good team and now they have reached the final. They have a strong team with quality players.”



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