Called Upon the Ainawi Fans for An Energetic Support.. Leko: Satisfied with the Players Performance and Waiting for the National Team Players to Join the Squad
I am learning Arabic of My Own Accord
I Discussed with the Team Management the Possibility of Holding a Friendly Match on 24th July
Since day one of the Austria summer training camp, the Head Coach of Al Ain First Football Team, Croatia’s Ivan Leko, along with his assistant coaching team have shown keen interest in learning certain Arabic expressions. They all asked Matar Al Sahbani, Team Manager, and Issam Abdullah, Team Administrative Officer, to teach them new words on a daily basis that help them to be introduced to new cultures and UAE customs and traditions, in addition to vocabularies used in training sessions to motivate the players.
He pointed out: “We all feel it is better to use common words in Arabic during training sessions and lectures at the changing room. Some of the words they are mastering now is “Assalmu Alikum (Peace be upon you), Besoora’a (faster), Quddam (forward), Idghaat “Press”, Yalla Shabab (Let’s do it guys) and Waayed Zeineen (Perfect).”
In an interview with Al Ain TV Channel today 21st July, Ivan Leko expressed his satisfaction with efforts have been exerted by the team’s stars so far. He stressed: “We all are waiting for the Ainawi players attached to the UAE National Football Team to rejoin the squad along with other injured players who have already enrolled a rehabilitation program to ensure their speed recovery.”
He added: “Based on the players’ performance and efforts I observed during the past 12 days, I am satisfied and have a positive image of the whole team. I am happy with the team’s style of playing, their commitment and compliance with my instructions and their professional mentality. I do like their commitment, concertation, seriousness, taking care of themselves and pushing themselves to the limit to make sure they are taking advantage of the gains of the camp.”
Responding to a question on the nature of the camp program, he said: “We are focusing at this initial phase to boost the players’ level of physical fitness, endurance and practicing muscle exercises along with paying attention to mental aspects, considering that we have new 7 players whom we are trying our best to make them adapt swiftly with the team and not to forget that the coaching team is also new. Personally, I do believe that we have had an excellent start and we are waiting for the remaining players who have already been attached to the national team, as well as other injured players to join the squad and kickoff their collective training sessions soon.”
“We are trying our best to play a second friendly match during the first phase of the camp as the team is scheduled to play their first match on 27th July against Macedonia’s FK Vardar of the first Division League,” he said in response to a question on the team’s friendly matches of the first phase of the camp.
He went on to say: “I discussed with the team’s management the possibility of playing a second match on 24th July. Personally, I am not a demanding coach considering the shortage in the number of players, but such matches are always important for the squad players who seek to have the opportunity to be part of the starting lineup. Certainly, these matches give the coaching team an idea on the progress the players achieved during the past days of the camp and their ability to implement field instructions they trained to implement during the training sessions.”
As for his self-insistence to learn the Arabic language, he explained: “In the world of football, it is very important to know a lot about the nature, culture, customs, traditions and language of the team you are training. This also applies to the assistant coaching teams who are required to communicate with the players and know how to deal with them. In the coming period we will work hard to learn more Arabic terms as this is very important from my personal point of view.”
Ivan Leko concluded his interview by addressing a message to the fans by saying: “As I stated earlier, I am here saying it again to the Ainawi fans that we, as coaching teams and players, will spare no efforts to perform well and achieve the best positive results with sights set to realize all our big and common aspirations.”
