Abu Dhabi: Henk ten Cate, the Al Jazira coach, has warned the Arabian Gulf League leaders to guard against complacency when they travel to lowly Dibba on Wednesday.
On paper, the Pride of Abu Dhabi — who lead the AGL by six points ahead of the 22nd round of action — should beat their 11th-place opponents comfortably, but Ten Cate said Dibba’s league position does not reflect their quality.
He added that his side have been hampered by the fact that several players have just returned from international duty last week.
“We expect a tough match against Dibba, who have always been tough opponents for Jazira, and this season’s team is of a good level and their position in the league table is not fair because they play well against all competitors,” the Dutchman said.
“We must be at our best, physically and mentally, to win. We are concentrating on winning and nothing else.”
“The difficulty in facing Dibba is the return of our international players and their joining of the team training a short time ago,” he continued. “We have been without Ali Khaseif, Fares Jumaa, Mohammad Fawzi, Mohammad Al Attas, Khalfan Mubarak, Mbark Boussoufa, Ahmad Al Attas and Ali Mabkhout, who played difficult and important international matches [last week] and had to travel long distances, some of which exceeded 30 or 40 hours.
“We will have to wait until the last minute to know specifically the physical status of these players.”
Ten Cate added that his UAE players were suffering not only physically, but also mentally, after last week’s defeats (2-0 at home to Japan and 2-0 away in Australia) left their hopes of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in tatters.
“I have talked extensively with my UAE players so that I can help them overcome the difficult period they have suffered following the successive World Cup qualifiers. But we must all now turn our focus to future benefits for the team because we are entering a very critical period in the league and we need three wins at least to win the title.”
Ten Cate’s caution was echoed by his Moroccan midfielder Boussoufa.
“The upcoming matches in the league are the most important of the season for us because winning the title depends on us winning at least three games,” he said. “We know it will be a difficult game for us because Dibba are strong and well organised, but we are ready physically and technically to do our best to win.”
ARABIAN GULF LEAGUE
Wednesday’s games
Emirates vs Al Wahda, 5.45pm
Dibba vs Al Jazira, 5.45pm
Thursday’s games
Al Ain vs Al Dhafra, 5.50pm
Al Ahli vs Al Wasl, 8.45pm
Friday’s games
Al Shabab vs Hatta, 5.50pm
Bani Yas vs Sharjah, 5.55pm
Al Nasr vs Kalba, 8.45pm
Standings
# Team GP W D L GF GA GD PTS
1 Al Jazira
21 17 2 2 56 15 41 53
2 Al Ahli
21 14 5 2 43 13 30 47
3 Al Wasl
21 13 5 3 46 22 24 44
4 Al Ain
21 13 4 4 41 26 15 43
5 Al Wahda
21 9 7 5 46 31 15 34
6 Al Nasr
21 10 2 9 38 26 12 32
7 Al Dhafra
21 8 5 8 29 33 -4 29
8 Al Shabab
21 6 7 8 20 37 -17 25
9 Hatta
21 5 6 10 19 36 -17 21
10 Sharjah
21 5 5 11 21 36 -15 20
11 Dibba Al Fujairah
21 3 9 9 21 40 -19 18
12 Kalba
21 4 5 12 24 35 -11 17
13 Emirates
21 3 4 14 23 41 -18 13
14 Bani Yas
21 3 2 16 23 59 -36 11
