Stressed Khalid Eisa Did not Receive the Appreciation He Deserves by FIFA.. Al Sahbani: Al Ain Reserved Team is Required to Pursue the Boss’ Global Gains in the Gulf Cup
Matar Obaid Al Dhaheri “Al Sahbani”, Al Ain Team Manager, stated that the Croatian head coach of Al Ain Zoran Mamic gave the players 48 hours break following the final match of the Club World Cup- UAE 2018. “It is scheduled that the Boss’ stars to resume their training sessions in preparation for the quarterfinal match of the Arabian Gulf Cup against Bani Yas which will be held on Friday 28th December 2018 at Tahnoon bin Mohammed Stadium in Qattara.
Al Sahbani added: “Al Ain will miss 9 key players in the coming match, including the 7 international players who have already joined the “Whites” in preparation for Asia Cup- UAE 2019 and they are: Khalid Eisa, Ismail Ahmed, Mohammed Ahmed, Bandar Al Ahbabi, Amer Abdul Rahman, Mohammed Abdul Rahman and Rayan Yaslam. Ahmad Barman will not play due to injury and Mohammed Fayez for high fever.”
“Having said that, the head coach will select certain players from the Reserved Team to fill in the gaps in the coming match against Bani Yas. We trust that who were selected will be highly motivated to defend their big team’s logo,” Matar said. He also underscored that these players understand they are required to pursue the Boss great performance and achievements in the recent edition of the Club World Cup. “They have to prove that saying that “Al Ain is big regardless the names. However, it is the fate of big clubs not to seek any justifications or excuses and required to perform well and achieve great positive results.”
In response to a question on his recent statements prior the final match against Real Madrid that Al Ain’s players do not suffer from any pressure in that match, he said: “First of all, all Ainawis should be proud and honored for the team’s recent achievements. The real heroic and stunning achievements are attributed to the great words and massive commendation addressed to the club’s players by the UAE wise leaders. They all felt they were playing on behalf of the whole UAE in one of the biggest events dedicated for world’s clubs.”
“I would like also to take this opportunity to extend our sincerest regards and appreciations for the players who saved no efforts while playing against one of the top teams in the world,” said Al Sahbani. He said that the reason behind his statement was to release the players from any pressures whatever. “I told them that we have nothing to lose. All what we are meant to do is to play in the same level of performance against Team Wellington “Oceania Champs”, Esperance de Tunisia “Africa Champs” and River Plate “South America Champs”. However, in the match against Real Madrid we missed certain little details led the team to lose the match and that was so clear in the match. Had El Shahat scored the lead goal, I am sure things will be different in the match.”
“There are several reasons behind losing the final match, most importantly the rules of the competition which is built by giving the Europe Champs and Cuba America Champs the chance to play only one match to qualify to the final match, contrary to the other teams who must fight hard to arrive at this stage, particularly Al Ain who played 350 minutes within 6 days only. Real Madrid played only 90 minutes to qualify to the final. Indeed, there was no justice whatever in that match.”
Al Sahbani added: “What is important is that Al Ain Team had great and significant gains out of this unusual participation, including making the history and the achievement of a new records for the Arabs of Asia in the Club World Cup. We have also not to forget the marketing, media, tourism gains. The local organizing committee for this important international event deserves to be commended for their superior efforts and show whole world that UAE is always able to organize big world-class events.”
Commenting on the FIFA awards granted to the stars of the Club World Cup, he said: “We will not question the integrity of the committee responsible for selecting the stars of the Club World Cup, but in my opinion, I believe they did not give Khalid Eisa the appreciation he deserves. Khalid was the first star of the FIFA Club World Cup- UAE 2018 from my personal point of view compared to his outstanding efforts and performance, high focus and his ideal reaction in dealing with the penalty shots, the minutes played during the tournament, in addition to being the only player who won the Match Award twice. For sure, he deserves to win one of the three awards with all due respect to the three winners.”
