Al Sahbani: That is the Reason Why Fans Have been waiting the Boss Participation in the FIFA Club World Cup
Matar Obaid Al Dhahiri “Al Sahbani”, Manager of Al Ain First Football Club, considered that the Boss’ participation in the FIFA Club World Cup signalled a true recognition of great past 50 years of achievement, excellence and creativity throughout the club’s participation in different competitions. “Al Ain clinched the title the AFC Championship League and qualified to play in the FIFA Club World Cup 2003, but the competition was cancelled due to the disease of “SARS”. He added: “It is a fact that all the football fans were awaiting impatiently for such an important historical moment and see the Boss, and this is what I stated to the players prior our match against Team Wellington as they well aware that the Boss matches are always different, particularly when the team is representing our beloved homeland. We have a special self-challenge to reach the furthest point in this competition whatever it takes us to and I wish my team all the best and achieve all the aspirations of the Ainawi Nation’s all Emiratis.”
On the teams’ pre-preparations for round 2 match against Esperance de Tunisia he said: “Following the end of the match against New Zealand’s Team Wellington, we directly kicked off the team’s preparations for our match against the Africa’s champions, knowing that the time between the two games is limited, i.e. 48 hours. The team returned to their camp and held a training session this morning, but tomorrow there will be a video lecture after which the team will finish their final training session. The Sweden’s Marcus Berg participated in yesterday’s training session while Yahia Nader still sick and needs more time to recover.” He also stated that the players’ morals are high following their victory over the visitors. “The team now experienced the atmosphere of such a big event and actually each match will be played by the team is for the history, so we are required to boost the level of our concentration because each forward stage will be more difficult than the previous one.”
On the poor performance of the team in the first half of their match against Team Wellington, he said: “It was shocking for me to be down by three goals in the first half compared to the absolute control that Al Ain imposed as of the kick-off of the match. I believe not scoring any goal is the reason behind losing focus and we did warn the players of such a situation given that the matches of this competition are completely different from others. Therefore, were required to deal with the details of the match with a different a mentality quite different from our performance in the first half. This is what the head coach Zoran Mamic stressed and instructed the players to do during the break. Indeed, this paid off and we were able to come back in the match.”
He added: The coach also tackled during the video lecture all the details related to the confrontations and the most important reasons to overcome the rival, besides all the expected scenarios that might happen in the pitch. At any rate, our victory over Kiwis has become something of the past and the focus is currently on the Saturday’s clash match against Esperance de Tunisia. Our goal is crystal clear in that important confrontation.”
Commenting on a question on the weak and strong points of the Tunisian opponent, “There are no secrets in the world of football. The head coach Zoran Mamic had all information about Team Wellington and all of us watched the CAF Champions League winners. The head coach is well aware of the Tunisian opponent’s potentials who has quality players and very skilful with high level of physical fitness. Also, not to forget that we played 120 minutes and the team has only 48 hours ass a break. Therefore, we have to boost our concentration level prepare well for the coming clash match. I wish to see Marcus Berg and Yahiya Nader and to recover from the sever fever they are suffering from.”
He hailed the Ainawi and all Emirati fans who exhibited a nice image of loyal fans at the best football stadiums in the world, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium. They were there to support their favourite team and definitely their continuous support and creative initiatives had a positive impact on the players morale and gave them the required motivation to combe back in the game and achieve the best positive result.
He concluded: “Personally, I agree with Khaled Eisa when he stated that he is confident that the stadium will be standing behind the Boss in massive numbers at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium to support the Boss’ ambitions in their global mission.”
