I Have Passion to Play Big Matches.. Pedro: I Trust My Team’s Potentials to Perform Well Against Shabab Al Ahli
Al Ain First XI Will Include the Fully Ready Players
“We are working hard to prepare the squad for a strong match against a strong and well-organized team that has quality players,” Pedro Emmanuel stated in the pre-match press conference dedicated for the matchweek 2 of the Arabian Gulf League scheduled to be held on Friday 23rd October at Rashid Stadium in Dubai.
Pedro said that the opponent might not be in the best conditions in terms of the players’ physical fitness, but he highlighted that Al Ain is a big club, and any big team prefers to play such matches.
He pointed out: “Despite the current challenging conditions we are facing while we are preparing our team, such injured players and the longtime of suspension of football activities due to COVID-19 pandemic, we have to continue our work. This week we are bringing together as many players as we could in preparation for the upcoming clash match on Friday, and I feel confident that the team performance will be up to expectations.”
Pedro added: “As of January 2021, I will complete full one year with the team. I always seek to select the best quality players to join the team. Sometimes, you have players at their top level, and they are in their day, but after three or four weeks, you detect other better players. However, we do not change the main lineup as we have good and skillful players. This allows them to play more matches, and, definitely, the best players will always have a place in the first XI list.”
Responding to a question on his aspirations he would like to achieve this season, he said: “Our strategy is crystal-clear, and our objectives are the same each season. Our focus is always on the next match as it is the most important one for us. It is always important as it grants us three points, which contribute to adding more points to the total balance and beat all teams by the end of the season. This is our explicit goal, and each week we set goals which mainly centralized on snatching the three points of each match, and we will continue adopting the same way of planning.”
The Portuguese head coach pointed out that he was so happy with the past week’s result not only because they won Khorfakkan but also for showing that Al Ain Team has many young players and a young team that needs to improve its performance. He stressed that they all work hard to be the best.
“This week, I am so pleased as we are recovering certain injured players although they are not fully into form. However, we would select the best to enhance the team’s lineup and boost the team’s performance against a strong opponent. The players we would select have the quality that would lead to winning the home team, and this is the goal we set to achieve every and each week,” Pedro said.
As for the absent players who did not play against Khorfakkan and those who are expected not to play the upcoming match, he said: “Mohsen Abdullah would not play for receiving a red card last match. Meanwhile, tomorrow we will check the players’ status. We all aware that some players are not ready to play by 100%, but we would seek to give the chance to play, for the team needs to have them on board.”
He concluded his statement by saying: “In each match, we are in deep need of the quality players. We would see if they could play for 90 minutes, and this would be a good option; otherwise, they would miss playing this coming match.”
