Dubai clubs favourites for final places in matches against Al Shabab and Al Dhafra
Dubai: Dubai teams Al Nasr and Al Ahli look firm favourites going into the semi-finals of the President’s Cup on Saturday.
Al Nasr host newly-crowned GCC Champions League winners Al Shabab, while Al Ahli make the long journey to Al Dhafra in the two last-four matches.
Besides home ground advantage, Al Nasr have been riding high on confidence following their shock 1-0 win over Arabian Gulf League (AGL) champions Al Ain in the quarter-finals last week. The Blue Wave can also count on the fatigue factor to favour them as Al Shabab played the final of the Gulf Club tournament against Al Seeb in Oman late on Wednesday.
Al Nasr, by contrast, have had the luxury of a six-day break since beating Al Ain.
“Playing at home is always an advantage. We would always love to play at home and particularly in important matches like this one. If you ask me, I would have preferred chasing both titles, the President’s Cup and the GCC Champions League, instead of one. But this is football and we think Al Shabab [who beat Al Nasr in the GCC Champions League semi-finals] deserved to win the trophy,” Al Nasr coach Ivan Jovanovic said.
“I expect a totally different game against Al Shabab [on Saturday]. We have played a lot of games against them and all have been tough and this one won’t be any different. But this is a semi-final and we have set a target of entering the final this season.”
Al Shabab coach Caio Junior rued the lack of recovery time for his players. “But this is the schedule and we need to follow it. This is a semi-final and you can be sure our players will give their best to get a positive result,” he said.
The Brazilian has experience of President’s Cup success, having led Al Jazira to the title in 2011.
“We have the momentum with us following our success in Muscat and this will be such a huge motivation for my players,” he added.
In the second semi-final, the odds are in favour of Al Ahli despite both AGL matches against Al Dhafra ending goalless this season.
Al Dhafra has grown after managing to stave off relegation, accumulating 27 points to finish 11th in the 14-team AGL.
Al Ahli, who had a request for a 24-hour postponement of the semi-final turned down by the UAE Football Association, are in a similar situation to Al Shabab in that they also played on Wednesday night. And the confidence among the Red Knights should also be soaring after their entertaining 3-3 draw against Al Ain took them into the AFC Champions League quarter-finals.
“For us this is a very important match. As a team we have evolved and, with confidence high among the players, we are looking to playing our last two matches before stopping a rather long season,” Al Ahli coach Cosmin Olariou said.
“The motivation is there among the players and the players realise they need to put in an extra effort to cross over to the final.”
Gulf champions Al Shabab move on quickly
Coach Caio Junior targets UAE President’s Cup after penalty shoot-out win over Al Seeb in Oman
Dubai: Newly crowned GCC Champions League winners Al Shabab will hardly get any time to celebrate Wednesday night’s success as they focus on their UAE President’s Cup semi-final against Dubai rivals Al Nasr on Saturday.
Goalkeeper Salem Abdullah was the unlikely hero for Al Shabab — who won the regional club tournament for the third time — as he made two penalty saves in his side’s 4-3 shoot-out victory over Oman’s Al Seeb in Muscat.
Earlier, man of the match Henrique Luvannor had put the visitors ahead in the 83rd minute, when he collected a through ball from skipper Carlos Villanueva and fired home. But Haitham Al Maharami got Al Seeb level when he scored in the third minute of injury time to send the match to penalties.
Abdullah kept out the Omanis’ second and third spot-kicks, ensuring a miss by Mohammad Marzouk did not matter as Al Shabab won the shoot-out.
Al Shabab had previously won the GCC Champions League in 1992 and 2011.
However, the Dubai club will have hardly any time to take in their achievement as they switch their attention to their President’s Cup semi-final at the Al Maktoum Stadium against Al Nasr on Saturday. The team travelled back to Dubai early on Thursday and had a recovery session later in the evening.
“We hardly have any time to think about what we have achieved. The next goal is the semi-finals and we need to switch off and concentrate for our match against Al Nasr,” coach Caio Junior told Gulf News.
Al Shabab and Al Nasr have already met each other five times during the course of this season. Of the two times they faced off in the Arabian Gulf League, Al Shabab won 2-1 at home and then drew 1-1 away at the Al Maktoum Stadium.
But Al Nasr avenged these results as they beat the side from Al Mamzar 2-0 as they powered their way to clinching the Arabian Gulf Cup title.
And in the two-legged semi-finals of the GCC Champions League, Al Shabab drew 1-1 away and then beat their rivals 2-0 at home to earn the right to meet Al Seeb in Wednesday’s finale.
“Honestly, at this stage these results mean nothing to us. We just need to switch our thinking. We have another very important match against a rival who we know and we need to go out there and win,” Caio said.
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