Dubai: Al Nasr coach Ivan Jovanovic boasted that his team is ‘as good as anyone’ ahead of Saturday’s UAE President’s Cup semi-final against Al Shabab.
The Dubai club have enjoyed a good season in the knockout competitions, winning the Arabian Gulf Cup in January, reaching the GCC Champions League semi-finals and last week beating Arabian Gulf League champions Al Ain in the President’s Cup.
Their city rivals Al Shabab are also on a high after lifting the GCC Champions League trophy late on Wednesday, but Jovanovic insists Al Nasr have nothing to fear.
“I am not surprised at all with my team’s result against Al Ain. We are a strong team and we have the results to prove this. For one, we have won the Arabian Gulf Cup and now we have beaten the league champions. We are as good as anyone,” Jovanovic told media on Thursday.
“Al Shabab are deserving winners of the Gulf Club Cup [GCC Champions League]. For me, it would have been great to figure in both the finals [President’s Cup and GCC Champions League], but this situation too is good for us as we are able to finish our season so late, whereas some of the other top teams closed their season two weeks back. For sure this is a good situation to be in.”
Two advantages tilting in favour of Jovanovic is that Al Nasr will be playing on their home ground and with the added positive of two additional days of rest and recuperation.
“To start with, all four teams in the race are at the end of the season, and secondly this is a semi-final. So no one will mind the fatigue factor. Everyone will be playing to ensure they reach the final,” he said.
“But playing at home is always an advantage and we love to play in front of our own supporters. I can assure you that our semi-final will be a great game and the better team will advance to the final. On our part, it is one of our goals to be in the President’s Cup final and we will do everything to reach there.”
Australian Brett Holman was also present at the prematch conference and said he is braced for one last push to achieve Al Nasr’s President’s Cup goal.
“The dressing room atmosphere is fantastic after our tough win against Al Ain. We worked very hard and we got the reward in the last minute. Now we have one more match and we all realise what we need to do to reach the final,” the former Aston Villa midfielder said.
