AlKass Digital
Doha, Qatar- QNB Stars League’s defending champions Al-Duhail play their week 7 away match against Al-Ahli, later today.
Al-Duhail are second of the QNB Stars league leaderboard with 13 points. League leaders Al-Sadd too have the same number points, but are ahead on goal difference.
Duhail will miss defender Murad Naji who received red car during their 4-2 victory over Al Gharafa last week.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Duhail coach Al Duhail coach Nabil Maaloul said: “We had only a short time to prepare for this game, so we focused on the players’ recovery as they put in extra efforts in the previous game against Al Gharafa after the red card to Naji.”
“However, we will give off our best to achieve a positive result against Al-Ahli,” he added.
“All goals that we conceded so far were results of our own mistakes. We will try not to concede any goal against Al-Ahli. I think winning by two goals without conceding any is better than winning by five goals and conceding two,” said the Tunisian about the side’s defence.
“We do not have any problem in attack. We have outstanding players in the midfield and attack. The problem is when we concede goals. We will try to rectify the mistakes made by our players. We respect our competitors and we do not fear any team. The most important thing is we have to win all games if we are to be in strong contention for the QNB Stars League title,” Maaloul added.
Meanwhile, Al-Ahli would be keen on making amends following their4-2 loss to Al-Sailiya last week. Currently, they on number 9 of the league table with six points from equal number matches, and they have only registered two wins so far.
“Every game is tough. Our preparations were difficult. We have to adopt our strategy from game to game. We had problems right from the beginning, mainly in the form of injuries to players,” said coach Milan Macala.
“Striker Meshaal Abdulla and Barro Siddiqi cannot play this match. Meshaal is not well and Barro reported for training with high temperature on Tuesday. Even though Barro is a fast player, he has not played a match fully. I hope he regains his fitness soon. I will have to see who all are ready from our Under-23 squad to replace the injured players. I have already fielded some of them and they are coming good,” he added.
“Of course, Al Duhail are a strong side. They are at a disadvantage after exiting the AFC Champions League in the quarter-final stage. But they have depth in the squad. The way they beat Al Gharafa playing with 10 men (after Murad Naji saw the red card) was amazing. It will be very hard, but we hope we get full points,” noted Macala.