Zoran: I Have Full Confidence in the Boss’ Players and Their Ability to Achieve the Team’s Aspirations in the FIFA Club World Cup
The head coach of the Al Ain FC Zoran Mamic revealed the message and advice he delivered to his squad prior their opening match against New Zealand’s Team Wellington scheduled to be held on Wednesday 12th December 2018 at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium.
“I told the players to enjoy the matches of the Mondial because they deserve it and that this is their reward for their great efforts they exerted in the past season and clinching the double titles, i.e. the league and the President’s Cup that qualified them to be part of the FIFA Club World Cup,” Zoran responded to a question on his advice to his players.
“I spent nearly 20 years in football fields and definitely there are great memories I cannot forget and one of them will be participating in this Mondial. I am looking forward to reaching the possible furthest point in this tournament,” Mamic said at the pre-match news conference on Tuesday
On whether his team is still suffering from the negative impact of losing their past match to Al Wasl in the knockout stage of the President’s Cup, he commented: “It is true that we lot that match, but it is something of the past and we have to focus on the coming match only.”
He added: “I have well-experienced players and they did experience good and bad moments, but we have to focus on the current moment and talk about our match against Team Wellington so as not to lose what we have in our hands.”
He responded to a question if Al Jazira’s achievement in the competition of last year would have any pressure on the team, he said: “Al Jazira participated in the last year edition of the competition. Indeed, football has a new challenge everyday and we focus only on our team and be able to perform well on the pitch in each match we play.” He put an accent on the fact that Al Ain is representing not only the Al Ain Club, but also the UAE Football and that the team will strive hard to be the best ambassador of the UAE football.
Commenting on a question on Japan’s Tsukasa Shiotani and his own expectations of the player’s performance given that he had an experience in this competition when he was playing for Japan’s Hiroshima FC, he said: “I know Shiotani since a long time when I was the head coach of Dynamo Zagreb and was planning to contract with him, but we did not conclude the deal due the expensive amount required at that time.”
“So pleased to have quality players like Shiotani in my squad. He plays in more than one position and fully committed to fulfill all his tasks in the right manner. He is one of the pillars of my team and happy to have him onboard.”
Zoran stated that everything is possible in football and insisted that there are no easy matches. “In football everything is possible and that’s why we have to be very careful and respect our opponent, Team Wellington,”
He concluded: “We have to be at good level. We cannot go into the match thinking it will be easy. Our opponent is not easy, and the evidence is that they are playing in this elite competition. We have to fight and run from the first until the last second to win the guests and qualify to the next stage.”
