Al Ain: Coach Zoran Mamic was left delighted hoping for much better things from his team after Al Ain’s 7-0 thrashing of Ajman in Round 15 of the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) on Saturday.
Mamic, who completed a year with The Boss over the weekend, saw his team make merry with four goals before half-time while adding another three in the second to bring Ajman back to reality after a couple of handy wins in the last two rounds.
Al Ain opened the score in the eighth minute through hat-trick boy Hussain Al Shahata, while Marcus Berg made it 2-0 six minutes later. Al Shahata got his double on the 25th minute before Brazilian Caio Fernandes found the far corner after receiving from Japan’s Tsukasa Shiotani on the half-hour mark.
Young Rayan Yaslam joined the fray with a goal in the 51st minute to make it 5-0, while substitute Ahmad Khalil forced an easy tap-in on the 77th before 25-year-old Egyptian midfielder Al Shahata completed the rout eight minutes from the final whistle.
“This win definitely makes me very happy. There is no greater joy for a coach to see his team play the way they did tonight. We played serious for 88 minutes, but showed lapses in a couple of minutes. This happens, but it should not as that means we are giving the opposition the opportunity to come back,” Mamic told media after the match.
“It was near-perfect organisation with a lot of discipline and we stayed very compact throughout, except for a couple of individual errors. It was a great job in the midfield as they brought in a lot of quality and put in a lot of kilometres. Everyone played their role, especially [Ahmad] Barman and Rayan [Yaslam]. This sort of play was very important for our game and this is what pleases any coach. Finally, we had the chance to see some good players, great action and some fantastic goals,” he complimented.
After 15 rounds, Al Ain continued in their top spot with 35 points, while Al Wahda remained in second (33 points) followed by Al Wasl (31) and Al Nasr (23). Defending champions Al Jazira, who beat cellar-placed Al Dhafra late on Saturday, were in fifth with 21 points while Shabab Al Ahli Dubai remained stuck in sixth with 20.
“I doubt we are under any sort of pressure from any other team. Al Wahda is in second place and the bigger pressure is on them [Al Wahda]. They have to catch us as we enjoy a two-point difference,” Mamic smiled.
“If you want to be a champion then you have to live with pressure any way. But I also know that we have the experience and the mental quality to come through from any situation,” he confided.
Ajman coach Ayman Al Rammadi was left baffled for answers while trying to explain the huge loss. “We’ve got to look at the whole picture here. We made too many individual mistakes against a quality team. We were never in the game especially after those early goals, and then we lacked fitness to match our opponents,” he said.
“This is not a match to be easily forgotten as it is a good lesson for our team,” the Egyptian added.
This was the 16th all-time encounter between the two teams and the visitors have never won against Al Ain, who have won 13 times and drawn twice. The highest margin of victory involving the two teams was a 7-1 drubbing inflicted on Ajman during the 2014-15 season.
