Dubai: Al Wasl's home clash with Emirates Club today is an ideal opportunity to get the Cheetahs' season back on track, according to head coach Diego Maradona.
Sixth in the etisalat Pro League on 21 points with seven games remaining, Maradona's first year in charge has seen his side fall out of league contention and exit both the etisalat Cup and President's Cup, in the semi-finals and quarter-finals respectively.
But with his only chance of silverware now coming in the form of the ongoing GCC Champions League, where Al Wasl currently top their group after two wins in two matches, Maradona is still pushing for the best possible finish in the domestic table.
Emirates, third from bottom on 11 points, could be the ideal springboard for those ambitions at Zabeel Stadium today.
Ready and prepared
Maradona said: "This match will be a chance for us to get back on track. We need a win. We know Emirates' team quite well. We've studied them well and played against them. The Emirates team hasn't changed that much, but even if they had we would be ready and prepared.
"Our focus is mainly now on working on the mentality of the players, rather than the physical and technical aspects, because we need to get them in the right mindset to get them back on track before the end of this season."
Maradona added: "There won't really be changes to the regular starting line-up. The players that are ready, and those that have been rested for the last match against Al Riffa [at GCC Champions League], will be used for this upcoming match. Rashid Eisa is showing some excellent form these days and we will definitely use him to try to benefit from his fine performances of late. Darwish [Ahmad], [Juan] Mercier and [Mohammad-Reza] Khalatbari are also going to be part of the squad. "We're actually going through an excellent phase right now. We don't suffer from a lot of injuries, only maybe Mubarak [Hassan], and we're playing with a formation that I think can actually go out there and get the three points."
