Mamic links Al Ain Strong Personality to Team Offensive Strategy
Al Ain Coach, Zoran Mamic, said that he expects a very strong game against Bunyodkor in the second round of the AFC Champions League. Each of the two teams played one game in the group stage; as the UAE club opened their Group C account with a lacklustre 1-1 draw at home, the Swallows were eased past by the Saudi giants Al Ahli, Mamic noted.
“I think that the Uzbekistani team had a great performance in the previous round, have distinguished players, perform team play very well and adopt a quick style of play,” the Croatian Coach said, pointing out that he expects a challenging confrontation, “Thanks to the Swallows’ desire to perform better than the previous round.”
Mamic said that the team should be more focused and cautious, keen on victory and aware that the opposing team has a number of fast skilful players such as Shakzodbek Nurmatov, Dostonbek Khamdamov and Eldor Shomurodov.
Asked whether the team will adopt a defensive style in their away game, Mamic said that “Al Ain’s personality is totally linked to the offensive style of play and that the style of the team players, who respect rivals, is offensive.”
“We came to Uzbekistan to do nothing but snatch the three points,” he said.
Commenting on his expectations for the two teams that will qualify to the next stage, the coach said that it’s too early to expect, pointing out that Bunyodkor had a strong performance in the game against Al Ahli in Saudi and were almost to achieve a positive score.
Al Ain also played very well against the Iranian team, but the opportunities were not translated into goals, Mamic said.
There are no problems at all, Mamic said in his comment on a question regarding the connection between losing the AFC Champions League’s title and the team’s unsatisfactory results in the league and the Asian tournament. “The final match of the Champions League was in December and it’s normal to experience a decline in performance after finals in football,” the Croatian coach said, stressing that the real problem is that a number of key players were recently injured when the team is expecting great challenges at the local and Asian levels.
“Three of our “international” defenders got injured after the AFC Champions League’s final in addition to Colombian player Danilo Asprilla who will be back in today match,” Al Ain Coach said.
Whether being keen on following in the footsteps of his Croatian predecessor Zlatko Dalić, Mamic said “Certainly I respect the work of the coach Dalić with Al Ain as he left the team after three years there. However, each coach has his own style and strategy in dealing with the important details of the team. Of course, I have my own style to achieve the club objectives”.
