Stressed that “Ajab” and Ismael Will Soar the “Boss’” Power in Return Match.. Zoran: We Will Fight till the End and I have Full Confidence that We Will Qualify
Zoran Mamic, Croatia’s Head Coach of Al Ain FC, stated in the post-match press conference of his team and Iran’s Esteghlal of round 3 of the AFC Champions League that his team is still in the race to snatch one of the qualifying cards though his team was aiming to win the match making the most of playing at their own turf an among their loyal fans. He emphasized: “The match was so exciting where we witnessed four goals and a missed penalty kick, besides loads of lost chances. Our opponent was so strong and has quality players and took the lead first. However, Al Ain never surrenders and showed their genuine charisma and return with the match to square zero by achieving the draw. Indeed, in such type of matches you have two ways to win, either the easy way or the difficult one and players chose the latter.”
“Our chances in this stage still valid and we have three matches to go by nine points,” said he. He stressed: “No need to panic though we should have snatched more points, but our competitors are also strong and absolutely we will fight till the end and sure that we will qualify.”
On reasons behind tasking El Shahat to play defensive roles that resulted in lessening his contributions in the frontline, he stated: “It is very difficult to explain during a press conference all the reasons why I have to choose a certain appropriate style of playing in any match. Anyway, as you know Ismail Ahmed had undergone a knee surgery at the beginning of the current season and he needs recovery time so as to keep him safe to play in the coming matches. As for Bandar, he still needs time to reach the required level of readiness and fitness.” He also explained: “Personally, I do respect all various views, but by the end of the day I am the one who is responsible for the team’s results. Whenever, the team achieves positive results the coach is commended, but when the team loses I am the only one to be blamed.” He underlined: “If you watched the match, you will find that the opponent team did not have the chance to penetrate into the area of Al Ain in the first half and even we deprived them the ability to create critical chances in the right manner.”
“A coach does not think only about what is going on in the first minute or after a quarter of an hour, but indeed he is thinking about what will happen in 90 minutes and tries to make arrangements and solutions that will enable his team to achieve the desired results,” said he. He also explained: “When I gave Bandar the chance to play in the last minutes of the match, he launched numerous attacks against the net of the opponent team. Also, during our match against Al Rayyan we involved players from the bench who were able to make the difference. By all means, it is the coach who is responsible for all the decisions and in charge to manages all his team’s technical affairs as of the kickoff whistle until the end of the match.”
On the second leg match scheduled to be held next week and attended by massive crowds, he replied: “We are going there to win and snatch the three points. Any coach in the world always thinks to how his team should perform well and achieve the best result. We look forward to showing our strong charism and crowds’ attendance motivates the players to push themselves to while playing in the field.” He concluded the press conference by saying: “Surely, we are required to increase the number of goals in the net of the opponent in this continental competition and this why Ismail Ahmed and the significant midfielder, Mohammed Abdul Rahman, will be playing in the coming match.”
