Abu Dhabi: Henk ten Cate, the Al Jazira coach, expects his chastened side to deliver in their home Arabian Gulf Cup semi-final on Monday, insisting they are not plagued by “negative effects” following their President’s Cup humiliation last Wednesday.
Al Jazira were trounced 6-0 by Al Wahda in the quarter-finals of the competition they won last year, a shocking result given that they are the Arabian Gulf League leaders.
But Ten Cate is adamant that there has been no lingering fallout from that surprise humbling as they prepare to face Al Ahli at 5.05pm at the Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium. “We have moved away from the negative effects of that loss and we have directed our focus fully on facing Al Ahli in the semi-final of the cup,” he said.
“It’s an important tournament for us. Al Ahli are a strong team, with a good group of players led by a smart coach [Cosmin Olaroiu] with a lot of experience in the UAE. He has achieved great success here. I do not think that the fact they have had more days of rest than us will give them the edge.
“On the contrary, we will face them in our stadium with our fans and we have a great desire to present a better image of ourselves after the last game and provide a strong level of performance to get the result we want.”
Ten Cate went on to mount a passionate defence of his team after they were subjected to intense criticism for their supine surrender to Al Wahda.
“We lost to Al Wahda because they outplayed us in all departments and we were frustrated certainly. But we can only think about the future now and not in any way allow this loss to wipe out the effects of the wonderful and great work done by the team over the past year. We must not forget that Al Jazira began 2016 threatened with relegation, but the team has done an exceptional job to win the President’s Cup and now be in first place in the league and be one step away from qualifying for the Arabian Gulf Cup final.
“I hope the players get the tribute they deserve for the work they have done in the past year. The team is still under construction. When I came here, I was asked to build a new team.”
The latest phase in Ten Cate’s recalibration of Al Jazira led to the arrival of the Brazilian forward Leonardo on Friday. Ten Cate, however, would not confirm whether his new recruit, who won the Asian Champions League last year with his previous club Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, would make his debut against the Red Knights.
