Zoran Did Not Attend Training Sessions for High Fever.. Kirki: Al Ain is Ready to Win Bani Yas and Qualify to Gulf Cup Semifinals
Al Ain Assistant Head Coach Damiere Kerzner “Kirki” opened the pre-match press conference dedicated for the last 8 round of the Arabian Gulf Cup by conveying the head coach’s apologies for being unable to attend for sudden high fever to the extent he was not able to attend the last two training sessions of the team.
Commenting on his team’s match against Bani Yas scheduled to be held on Friday 28th December at 1655hrs, he said: “Back to reality and play again in the local national competitions following the stunning performance of Al Ain Fc in the FIFA Club World Cup- UAE 2018.”
He stressed that Al Ain is determined to win the title of this competition while showing all due respect to the opponent. “Bani Yas is a good team and has a great head coach who has a special impact on the level of the teams he used to train. However, we are focusing currently to win the match and qualify to the semifinal stage.”
“Our mission against Bani Yas will not be easy compared to their quality performance. Add to that we are missing certain key players for joining the “Whites” to play the Asia Cup- UAE 2019 scheduled to kick off on 5th January. We wish them all the best and be able to achieve the team’s aspirations,” he said
Responding to a question on whether the head coach is planning to give the chance for new faces to play in the coming match, he said: “Certainly, the Gulf Cup is a good chance to grant the “non-international” players the chance to show their quality potentials. During our preparations for any match, we focus on the team as a whole and not on certain names. We have good players and Zoran has been always stating that Al Ain never complains about missing any player as the team’s bench has remarkable player. We are going to give a number of players the chance to be in the team’s starting XI.”
Kirki stated that the team has a clear strategy in dealing with all matches regardless the classification of the competition, i.e. Club World Cup or local league. “We have a straightforward strategy in handling all matches as we have a clear goal, i.e. to win any opponent. It is the fate of big teams that they are required to clinch titles no matter the classification of the competition and each player has his own challenge, i.e. to win titles given that the Arabian Gulf Cup is a national official competition.”
He concluded by stating that Mohammed Fayez and Yahiya Nader will not play the coming match due to high fever and the coaching team will wait till the day after to assess their fitness to play against Bani Yas.
