Dubai: Al Wasl are willing to rise up to the challenge of soaking in the pressure when it mattered most after continuing their reign at the summit in the eighth week of the Arabian Gulf League (AGL).
‘The Cheetahs’ scored two early goals and then added a third late into the match to secure a sound 3-0 win and full points against visiting Al Dhafra to continue keeping their position at the top of the standings with an unbeaten run of six wins and two draws for 20 points.
Defender Abdul Rahman Ali headed in a corner in the 16th minute to hand the lead to the home side, while Caio Canedo made it 2-0 by the 23rd minute. After lengthy bouts of domination, Al Wasl put the three points safely in their pouch with Canedo getting his second on the night with a low shot to the right of goalkeeper Zayed Al Hammadi.
Assistant coach Diego Markic, who came in place of Rodolfo Arruabarrena — red-carded for disputing the referee’s decisions — displayed total confidence on the squad. “This is a long league and the fortunate thing is that we have started well. This set of players know that they are required to continue performing at this level, if not get better, as time passes. Next we have the Asian Champions League along with all other domestic competitions. So the challenge will lie in the fact that every player will have to continue performing at a very high level, irrespective of whether he has got sufficient playing minutes or not,” Markic told media at the post-match conference late on Friday.
“The road ahead is long and tough and we certainly need to have everyone including those on the bench at a similar high level. And that is the challenge. None of our players must give up just because they have not got enough playing time. Their time will come to prove what they are capable of,” he added.
Markic further reiterated that the team has been developing with every outing. “Of course, we need to improve on the mistakes we make. This group is intelligent and they know what they need to do and improve. I am sure they are focused going forward as there are some tougher matches coming up,” he said.
Al Dhafra coach Mohammad Kwid admitted that there is barely anything his team can do against stronger opponents such as Al Wasl. “Our focus is to see how much we can get playing against the bottom six teams. The upper six are not exactly ones we can tackle with what we have with us,” Kwid said.
“We have a plan in mind as the winter transfer window is approaching but for the time-being, it would be enough to concentrate on the next match and see how many points we can take,” he added.
