We Work Hard to Make the Ainawi Nation Happy.. Leko: I am not Worried about Lack of Scoring and Happy by the Team’s Performance
By the end of the friendly match against the Saudi Arabia’s El Ettifaq and in an exclusive press statement to the Al Ain official website, the head coach of Al Ain First Football Team Ivan Leko stated that match was tough and great.
He said: “It was a great match full of enthusiasm and determination. The Boss stars did well, particularly during the first 60 minutes as the players implemented all the tactics they trained to carry out during the training sessions.”
“we conceded two goals in the last third of the match as we replaced the whole first eleven players. For me, I do not see losing a friendly match is a bad thing. When we involved the new players in the last 30 minutes, the match rhythm was high, and we conceded a goal in few minutes and in the dying minute we conceded a second goal from the penalty point.”
Commenting on the concerns that the team frontline has not scored in the last three friendly matches, he said: “Friendly matches are part of the training sessions of the team; therefore, the result of the match is not a key goal. However, in the official matches, we have to score goals.”
“The main goal of playing friendly matches is to involve all players to assess their performance. There are new players, and we need to assess their performance and identify their potentials, and in general, I am satisfied with their skills and performance. I am sure that the training sessions will help us achieve the desired goals.”
He added: “We work hard in this away camp with a high level of seriousness and great desire to be fully fit. We set up plans to achieve the desired gains out of this away camp. We aim to make the Ainawi Nation happy in this new season through achieving the best positive results in all tournaments of the new season.”
Friendly Matches are Part of the Training Sessions
Noteworthy, in the preseason phase kicked off on 18 July and would last until 13 August 2019 in Austria and Slovenia, Ivan Leko conducted an intensive morning and evening training sessions every day, in addition to friendly matches which he considers part of his training program.
Players are involved in regular morning training sessions a few hours before the team’s friendly matches which is usually held evening time. This proves that the coaching team establishing the concept that friendly games are part of the training sessions of the team.
Al Ain played in the first phase of the away camp in Austria two friendly matches. The team played against the Slovenian team Celje and won the game by 3-0, while the second match was against Macedonian team Vardar which was suspended due to heavy showers of rain while the result was a goalless draw.
In the second phase of the away camp, Al Ain played two friendly matches against Al Fateh and Al Ettifaq of Saudi Arabia. The first match ended by a goalless draw, while Al Ain lost it by 0-2. As per the program, the team is scheduled to play one match to conclude the away training camp on 13 August 2019.
