Zoran: We Expect the Fans’ Intense Support and We Promise them to do Our Best to Qualify
Zoran Mamic, Head Coach of Al Ain, confirmed that his team wants to play a strong game against Iran’s Esteghlal Tehran and to finish the match by a positive result in favor of Al Ain team that guarantees their qualification to the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League. He gave surety that the team is fully ready for this match and that the players are keen to do their best on the pitch to qualify.
During the pre-match press conference, he stated that, “The match can be described as the season’s match. We do want to play a good game and snatch the qualification card. Yes, we lost the first leg match at last minutes of the extra time. Indeed, one mistake ended up by losing the match. At any rate, the second leg match will be different from the match we played in Iran and our squad lines are fully ready except for the defender, Saeed Juma’ah, who will not play due to the recent red card he received.”
As for the impact of fasting on his players, he responded, “I do not think that fasting would negatively affect the players’ performance. I had a good experience with fasting when I was the Head Coach of Dynamo Zagreb where the Algerian player, Hilal Sudani, was one of the best players during Ramadan time and scored three goals in one of the matches and he was fasting at that time.”
In response to a question that the front line of Al Ain will be enhanced by the existence of the Saudi player, Naser Al Shamrani, he commented, “We missed his services in Iran, specially he did well in the last game. Of course, players are always required to their best during crucial matches.”
Commenting on another question whether the match against Iran’s Esteghlal Tehran can be considered a match to “save Al Ain’s season”, he said, “Yes, indeed. We can say that we have to play well and be the best team in the match. Personally, I expect the front line to be better than the previous match.”
He concluded by addressing am message to the Ainawi Nation, “We want to see as many fans as possible in the match, and to do their best in supporting and encouraging the players. We promise them that we will do our best to qualify for the next stage.”
