Zoran: We Promised to Improve Performance During Our Next Matches
I Know that Some of Al Ain’s Fans Are Angry and Others Are Sad
The Croatia’s Zoran Mamic stressed the importance of having a strong start against Al Wasl marking the first match of the team in the Arabian Gulf League following the hard exit of the team out of the continental challenge against Al Hilal in the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League. He emphasized that they had a very important meeting with the team players and stressed the importance of working hard to improve the team’s performance, and that everybody agreed to close that chapter of Al Hilal confrontation and to focus on the coming challenges.
In the pre-match press conference of Al Ain against Al Wasl scheduled to be held on Saturday 16th September at Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium located in Al Ain Club as part of the first round of the Arabian Golf League, Zoran said, “There are facts I did not mention before the Asian confrontation which are the tiny details that gave the opponent team the advantage over Al Ain. They are simply wasting chances, the referees’ unfair decisions in approving the first goal of the Saudi team which was a clear offside case, overlooking a penalty to the advantage of Al Ain and cancelling Douglas’ goal claiming that he was in an offside position.” He added, “Personally, I do believe that mistakes could happen in the football world, therefore, I do not prefer to talk about referees. Also, I know well that some of Al Ain’s fans are angry and the others are sad, but it is good to accept the fact that the best team is the who qualified.”
He also stated: “I would like to thank Omar Abdel Rahman who spared no efforts to do his best despite being injured and he was unable to join his teammates in the team’s training sessions during the away camp for nearly twenty days. I would like also to highly appreciate Ismail Ahmed efforts, who indeed doubled his efforts after his surgery by the end of the last season.”
He stressed the fact, “There is no team in the world of football takes part in any challenge to lose it, so we have to fight this season for the achievement of our goals at all levels. He underscored another fact, “Any observer of Al Ain- Al Hilal match will notice that the bench players of the opposing team are better for Al Ain missed the efforts of a large number of players in certain lines.”
Commenting on a question on his satisfaction with the new technique of playing with 3-5-2 plan, he said: “In fact we analyzed our last two matches against Al Hilal along the four rounds and we were very good in three of them. However, the fourth round, i.e. the second half of our last match in Riyadh was bad after we changed the way we were playing following receiving two goals in our nets. Indeed, during the three rounds we were good as we adopted “3-5-2″ technique. Absolutely, we will adopt new techniques that match the potentials of the team players.”
In response to a question if there is any tendency to enhance the lines of the team with new faces prior the end of the transfer season, he said: “Al Ain has the best players who can achieve the strongest results and lead the team to win titles. However, it is not only my own decision, as there is a specialized committee and a plan for the club dedicated for this purpose.” He concluded by saying, “Personally and as the head coach of the team, I think that the team has great players who have the ability to compete for all titles. Add to that there are young players whom I trust so much and already I decided to join them to the first team although some of them do not have enough experience to participate in the Arabian Gulf League, but they can be part of the Arabian Gulf Cup competitions.”
