Stating That His Team’s Foreigners are Distinguished
Zoran: I’m not happy with the performance of Al Ain against Al Dhafra
The Croatian Coach, Zoran Mamic- Al Ain’s Technical Manager, congratulated his team on their victory over Al Dhafra in the league competition on Thursday evening by 5/2. He emphasized that “I am not happy despite the outcome of the match, for two reasons. The first is the number of numerous opportunities that we missed and were not able to translate them into goals into our opponent’s net. This is because of the style of playing that the players showed, i.e. we were not able to entertain the fans of the club by the fun of football.”
He added, “I’m not too happy also because Al Dhafra scored two goals in our net, particularly, they had several lost chances in our area. This is can be attributed to the lack of commitment of some players to their defensive duties on the ground. The biggest challenge I face in the coming period is to give a boost to the defensive aspects of the team.
“It is a fact is that we missed the services of a number of players in the back line. Yet, we still have a lot of good players on the list and they should have done better than they did today,” said the Croatian Coach.
In reply to a question regarding the replacement of his team Captain after the first half of the game, he said “Amouri certainly has played more than 40 matches and two international matches without any break, and considering traveling to Australia, which means that he needs a break time. I decided to give him that rest in this confrontation, and personally very happy with this decision. ”
In his comment on a question if he has concerns prior facing the Saudi Ahli team compared to the performance that the team showed in this match against Al Dhafra, he replied “I think our confrontation with Al Ahli will be very different from Al Dhafra match, for the reason that the Saudi team is stronger than our opponent of today. Add to that the competition we are going to play in is at the level of the continent. The reality we are experiencing at the moment that played with Al Dhafra in extraordinary circumstances represented in the absence of influential elements due to injury and suspension. Indeed, I am so confident that my team will show better performance compared to the confrontation of today.”
He added, “In certain points of time, Al Ain showed their skills during their conformation with Al Dhafra, and some times that was not the case. It is not easy for me as a coach to keep my team at the same level all the time with the absence of key players; nevertheless, we will show the required level in the Champions League,”
In response to a question whether he is satisfied by the performance of the team’s foreigners, and that hearsay about Douglas’ return to Al Ain is true, he said: “Al Ain has five foreign players and Douglas is a good player as I stated before. However, I cannot make use of his services until the end of the season. In the meantime, Al Ain has four foreign players of high quality, and Danilo Asprilla did not play many games this season, due to injury and suspension. In general, we have nine games left at the local and continental levels and I hope to finish the season by qualifying to the finals of the AFC Champions League. I have no doubt that all foreigners of Al Ain team enjoy high qualities and potentials and deserve to stay on the team list.”
