Abu Dhabi: Al Dhafra showed a lot of spirit after squandering a two-goal advantage to eventually emerge victorious 4-2 against defending champions Al Wahda in the Arabian Gulf Cup Group ‘A’ encounter at the Al Nahyan Stadium on Thursday.
Despite their second successive win, Al Dhafra coach Mohammad Kwid was of the view that there was still a lot of work to be done.
“It was a big match and we knew each other well. We scored four goals but we still have lots of problems. We have to fix these as we enter the Arabian Gulf League,” said Kwid, who accepted that his team’s work was a lot easier considering Al Wahda were sans few of their leading players.
“We had to take advantage and make the most from this match and were keen on getting these three points. We finished the first half at 2-0 but we allowed them to get back in the second. However, I brought in Ahmad Ali and I knew he was capable of changing things. Al Wahda was still attacking us after they drew level and Ali helped us in getting those two goals in counter attacks,” added Kwid, who felt that the win would do a lot of good for his team when they begin their campaign in the Arabian Gulf League.
“This was a good match for our training, keeping in mind the League. It is always nice to test your team’s strength against top teams and we were able to do that today. Our main focus is not on the Cup but the league,” said Kwid, whose team now leads the points table with six points.
Al Wahda coach Javier Aguirre accepted that his team played way below par in the first half but did well to regroup in the second.
“The first half we played bad to be honest, both in defence and attack. However, in the second half they were content on being on the defensive and so I had to take out Chang Woo Rim and push Suhail Al Mansoori to attack,” said Aguirre adding that, he used all his “cards” to get the team back in the game.
“We attacked and got those two goals but we also missed the opportunity to seal a win here. A couple of good scoring chances were missed and that proved costly in the end,” said Aguirre, adding that his group couldn’t train as a team as many players were on national duty.
“Wednesday was the first time that we got all the players to train together. Balazs Dzsudzsak will be joining us tonight and Jorge Valdivia is only expected to join before the League season starts,” said Aquirre, whose team is currently fifth on the standings with just one point.
“All is not lost yet we can still qualify for the next round as there are plenty of matches to come. Last time round we qualified with just 10 points so we are confident of coming back strongly,” added Aquirre. He said he was looking forward to his opening league outing against Hatta next.
In the Group B encounter, Dibba defeated Bani Yas 3-2 to open their accounts while Sharjah also registered their first win, beating Emirate 5-1 in the Group ‘A’ clash.
