Bani Yas keen to end season with silverware

Abu Dhabi: The Bani Yas football team left for Doha on Tuesday to take on Qatar’s Al Khor in the first leg of the final of the 28th GCC Clubs Championship, scheduled to be played on Friday.

It will be their first final entry, en route which they beat Najran of Saudi Arabia 2-0 in the second leg of the semifinals for a 2-1 aggregate while Al Khor beat fellow Qatari team Al Kheraitiyat 3-1 on aggregate (1-0 and 2-1).

Salem Al Orfi, the Emirati coach of Bani Yas, selected a list of 22 players to feature in the final: custodians Mohammad Gholom, Mohammad Khalaf and Mohsin Al Harithi; Yousuf Jaber, Farid Esmail, Tamer Mohammad, Mohammad Fawzi, Sultan Al Ghafiri, Nawaf Mubarak, Amer Adul Rahman, Nicholas Alberto, Christian Wilhelmsson, Andre Senghor, Mohammad Aboutrika, Habboush SAleh, Fawaz Awanah, Saleh Al Mihanhali, Hamdan Awadh, Ebrahim Saeed, Khalid Mubarak, Talib Hijab and Mohammad Jaber.

Keeping the GCC fixture in mind, Al Orfi rested some of his key players in his team’s last league match against Al Ain on Sunday: Aboutroika, Wilhelmsson, Nawaf and Al Ghafiri. “We are ready for the challenge,” Al Orfi told Gulf News before leaving for Doha yesterday. “We have a good

chance to end our season with a trophy and we will do our ever best to achieve that.

“Al Khor is a strong team and have some good players but so are we. Our players are determined to achieve a positive result in the away leg to make their task at home easier.

“I am feeling optimistic and have complete confidence in my squad. I only hope that we will be lucky to return home with full points before the return leg.” Al Orfi said.

Bani Yas will provide two buses for their fans who want to go to Doha to support the team.