Sport | Football
Point to prove
Defending champions Al Shabab are wary of giant-killing Al Dhafrah ahead of today's game.
- By Alaric Gomes, Senior Reporter
- Published: 23:41 October 3, 2008
- Al Shabab players train ahead of their game against Al Dhafrah. Al Shabab coach Toninho Cerezo said he would not be taking anything for granted in today’s game after his side suffered a surprise loss to Sharjah last week.
- Image Credit: Karl Jeffs/Gulf News
Dubai: Defending champions Al Shabab are wary of giant-killing Al Dhafrah ahead of Friday's game.
Last season's league winners will be looking for a return to form after suffering a shock 4-2 drubbing at the hands of Sharjah last week.
But Al Dhafrah have a reputation for turning in strong performances against the big teams.
Last season they beat Al Wahda by identical 3-2 margins, while they managed to beat Al Wasl 3-2 and 1-0 as well as getting the better of Al Shaab 3-0 and 1-0 respectively.
Al Shabab coach Toninho Cerezo said he would not be taking anything for granted as the defending champions prepare for today game.
He said: "Al Dhafrah has complicated things for a lot of clubs in the past two years, and we certainly don't want to be one of these clubs suffering at their hands.
"And after last week's result we are certainly not in a mood to lose any more points," said the Brazilian.
Cerezo said Al Dhafrah had managed to consolidate and strengthen their side over the past two seasons.
"They have retained their UAE players and gone on to bring in some new quality professionals.
Much stronger
"The result is that they are much stronger than what they were last year," added the Al Shabab coach.
Al Dhafrah comfortably avoided relegation last year, finishing with 25 points in tenth position last season. They had seven wins and four draws through the season.
This season, the side has started well gathering four points from two games - a 3-1 win against Al Khaleej followed by a goalless draw against a strong Al Ain last week.
Cerezo said their opponents posed a threat from midfield with players who have experienced the league.
"Al Dhafrah has a well-established set-up with a midfield that knows how to hold the ball and a strikeforce that is capable of scoring from close to the box," said the coach.
Al Shabab are currently in sixth position with three points following their opening week win against Al Shaab.
"We cannot accept any other result except a win and three points for all our home matches," said Cerezo.
"We have to pay extra attention to these sort of games as we do not need to squander points and then put ourselves under pressure as the season progresses.
Score points
"Al Dhafrah is in the league for a reason. They are not here for the fun, they are here to score points and they have proved this point last season.
Al Ahli leads the league table with six points, followed by Al Jazira, Al Ain, Al Wahda and Al Dhafrah who all have four points each.
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