Abu Dhabi: Al Ain may have one foot in the finals of the AFC Champions League but at home they are clearly struggling, at least in the Arabian Gulf Cup.
On Friday night, they were handed a 3-2 shock defeat by Al Nasr and that has clearly put their campaign in the local tournament in shambles.
Al Ain now have just three points from three games and are second from bottom in Group B.
The visitors pumped in three goals and only a late pursuit allowed Al Ain to save their face with two goals. All their foreign recruits — Brazilians Douglas, Caio and Colombian Danilo Asprilla either ran out of ideas once inside the box or lacked in finish.
The visitors, on the other hand, made merry with brilliant strikes from Ahmed Khameis and then their backline simply rose to the challenge with some staunch defending till the end.
Al Ain coach Zlatko Dalic, the architect behind the team’s success at the AFC Champions League blamed fatigue and a number of other factors for his team’s poor showing. “Al Ain team made a great effort in the last match against Al Jaish of Qatar in the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League. Understandably, after that effort, my team is tired physically and mentally. It showed in today’s match as we were late to the balls and our rivals made the most of the errors. However, all credit to Al Nasr as they deserved to win today,” said a dejected Croatian, who felt that his team’s backline still needs to be strengthened.
“I have submitted a report to the team administration about the need for three players in the backline and also have identified some names. I hope we succeed in bringing in those good players. We do not need those who are sitting on the bench as we are discussing who can provide us the desired result.”
Dalic revealed that the result in the Arabian Gulf Cup for the last two seasons was ‘killing him’ as a coach.
“Al Ain continued to suffer during the past two seasons in the Arabian Gulf Cup football competition. As a coach it is killing me. I’m trying to compete in this contest, but the circumstances that I face is always difficult, for example when Mohammed Abdul Rahman returned from the national team camp his performance had dipped,” said Dalic adding, “We had to work hard with Mohammed Abdul Rahman to get him back to full fitness and regain the level. This is just one but there are many other factors that have affected our result in this tournament. However, I will work to show my best and we will try to make a strong return.”
