Dubai: Sharjah’s inability to get business done early won’t limit them at home to Al Nasr on Friday, according to opposition coach Cesare Prandelli.
The Kings, who recently merged with Al Shaab, have only confirmed two of their allocated four foreigners, with Australian defender Ryan McGowan joining from China’s Guizhou Zhicheng over the summer, followed by Chilean midfielder Cesar Pinares from Union Espanola.
Pinares’ three-year deal worth US$3 million was only confirmed on Wednesday leaving him unlikely to feature in Friday’s season-opener from 8.30pm at Sharjah Stadium.
Jose Peseiro’s side were also set to land Magno Cruz from South Korea’s Jeju United earlier this week, but the Brazilian midfielder reportedly failed a medical.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan striker Gelmin Rivas was sold to Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal midweek leaving Sharjah with just one foreigner — McGowan — set to play against Al Nasr.
Prandelli’s side in comparison have completed their foreign quartet with Brazilian midfielder Marcelo Cirino joining on loan from Atletico Paranaense to accompany retained compatriot striker Wanderley Santos, Lebanese defender Joan Oumari and Moroccan midfielder Abdel Aziz Barrada.
“When a team has strong character they can get over absences, foreign players included,” said the former Italy and Fiorentina coach. “Sharjah is a team of strong character so they will not be affected.
“We are very much concentrating because we want to have a good start to the season and we are playing against a team who is very organised and plays good football, but we are ready.
“We’re always well motivated and very much keen to correct our mistakes from the opening cup match,” he said of their 3-0 win at home to Ajman last week in the first round of the Arabian Gulf Cup — Sharjah lost their opener 2-0 at home to Emirates.
“After so many years in football, I can tell you every game is a different story, so the fact Sharjah lost their last game won’t affect this match, I’m sure we’ll find a team with different motivation against us, however it will be up to us to remind them that with offensive football we can hurt them. The idea is to give them as many difficulties as possible.
“The cup game against Ajman has given us hints of what we can do this season but those hints are very limited at the moment, so we are very much focused on our own game and always want to play positive football. After we’ve played all teams at the end of the first half of the season, we’ll have a clear idea of what our targets will be.
“After every game we will look at our mistakes and see how we can improve, every game is a separate story and we are taking each match at a time. We want to improve game after game and if we are able to do so then in the long run we will be able to climb higher and higher.
“At this moment I cannot tell you how high we can reach, but I have been training the team for 50-60 days and we are constantly improving, that’s all I can tell.”
