Reiterating absolute confidence in Douglas, Zlatko: Ready to defeat Al Wasl at HBZ stadium
In his press conference prior to Al Wasl game, Al Ain FC’s Croatian coach Zlatko Dalić congratulated everyone on the UAE 45th National Day Anniversary. He also congratulated his team leader Omar Abdurrahman on the winning the ‘Asian Footballer of the Year 2016’ Award. “I am very proud of Omar’s excellent performance during the AFC Champions League as an inseparable player of my team. In fact, all players displayed fantastic performance in the competition,” he said.
After flashing on their last win over Al Dhafra which significantly enhanced his men’ morale, Zlatko confirmed their preparedness to take the challenge next Sunday of encountering Al Wasl, one of the best teams and currently AGL leader.
Zlatko urged the fans to throng HBZ stadium to support their team which still has the chance of topping the table. He hoped that his injured players such as Amer Abdurrahman, Fawzi Fayez, Mohamed Abdurrahman and Mohamed Fayez would have recovered to play against Al Wasl.
“Although Al Wasl has outstanding players such as De Lima and Caio who have showed extraordinary performance lately, our goal is to compete for the AGL title and I am quite confident my men will achieve the best result next Sunday,” he added.
Explaining the correlation between Omar and the team, Zlatko said: “Omar is indisputably the best player in Asia and a valuable addition to the team; besides, he can always find solutions. However, we apply a different strategy; it engages the team as a whole rather than relying on one player; every player has a unique but a complementary role on the pitch. That’s why other players other than Omar can find solutions exactly when Ismail Ahmad scored against Al Dhafra when others failed to. Luckily enough, my men have faith in each other and in Ammouri.”
Commenting on his squad’s defensive issues, Zlatko admitted that conceiving two goals in two games in a raw from a corner kick is not good; “However, it’s not a serious issue and it’s quite common in football. As far as I can remember, we haven’t conceived a goal from a corner kick in two years. Yet, we must work this out and take precaution to avoid such a mistake.”
Asked why he withdrew Douglas Dyanfres from the last two games, Zlatko renewed his absolute confidence in his Brazilian striker. “Of the 40 games he played with Al Ain FC, Douglas scored 30 goals; it’s a good rating. He’s one of the best strikers; but he is being pressurized by everyone now.”
“Douglas is a committed and hard-working footballer and one of Al Ain FC family. Everybody in the Club must support him and boost his morale instead of giving him a negative feedback. Personally, I trust he can make a good comeback.”
