Abu Dhabi: His frustrated flapping of his arms on the touchline may have told otherwise, but Al Jazira coach Abel Braga insists his side can still challenge for the Arabian Gulf League title despite Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Bani Yas leaving them seventh in the table.
Braga cut a careworn figure as his beleaguered side tossed away a 2-0 half-time lead to leave them seven points behind the leaders and defending champions Al Ain.
But the under-pressure Brazilian, who returned to the club in the summer to replace the sacked Eric Gerets and who led the Pride of Abu Dhabi to their last title triumph in 2011, was in defiant mood afterwards. “We did not deserve to lose this game because we had three easy chances to score and we missed them. It is still early on in the season and this result has not dented our confidence about out league [title] aspirations,” he said.
Braga went on to defend his decision to remove the exalted trio of strikers Mirko Vucinic and Ali Mabkhout and attacking midfielder Thiago Neves late on - insisting his side had needed “fresh legs” after Bani Yas had drawn level.
First-half goals from Park Jong-woo and Vucinic after 11 and 18 minutes respectively looked to have put Al Jazira well on course for victory over their buoyant rivals, who lie third after an unbeaten start to the season. But Al Jazira were denied victory by the hosts’ potent strikeforce of Ishak Belfodil and Joaquin Larrivey, two superb summer buys who have combined to score 12 goals between them.
Algerian Belfodil gave his side hope by scoring his fifth goal of the campaign after 58 minutes, while his Argentinian teammate’s effort nine minutes later made him the AGL’s leading goalscorer with seven from six games.
Luis Garcia, the Bani Yas coach, declared himself happy with a point, but lamented his side’s failure to “score a goal in the first half”.
He added: “It was a highly entertaining game that could have ended 4-4.”
