Dubai: As the president of a successful club like President’s Cup winners Al Ahli, it is now time for Abdullah Al Naboodah to sit back and enjoy his success. Al Ahli have won titles in karate, basketball, handball, table tennis, cycling, athletics and football through the President’s Cup. But there is work to be done still as Al Naboodah told Gulf News in an interview this week:
Q. What does this President’s Cup win mean to you?
A. This victory is a translation of the hard work put in by the team since the past few months, let’s say from October 2011. Or rather since Quique Flores Sanchez came and took over as coach at Al Ahli. No doubt there has been some hard work put in, and that has resulted in a lot of improvement in the team. Midway we added a few players and that along with the work ethic has translated into the President’s Cup success.
Q. What else has made you happy?
A. I think the highlight for Al Ahli has been good performances throughout the season. The derby on Tuesday [against Al Shabab] was a very, very strong game and both teams gave it all. I think the result was not a surprise. In fact, if Al Ahli had lost after doing so much then it would have been a bigger surprise. We came into the game as favourites, and that didn’t help due to the added pressure on us to perform. Finally, in less than two hours it was all settled.
Q. Ultimately, what was that one difference between the two teams?
A. I think it was sheer grit that won it for us. Both teams fought until the end, but in the end we probably had a bit more quality and depth in our team.
Q. What’s the future for this team?
A. With the title on Tuesday night, this team has such a great future. This team will improve even more as time goes on. There is tremendous scope for improvement and this improvement will be in certain departments and we will be better than what we have been this season.
Q. If you were to set targets, then what would they be?
A. Seeing the team this year, especially in the first half of the year, was not what one would have expected from such a team. We lost eight points during that early period and I feel that definitely cost us the chance to go full on against Al Ain for the title. Eight points is not a small gap and it didn’t help us at all as it stayed that way throughout the season considering that the opponent we were up against were Al Ain. They are not an easy team [to beat]. You have to be at your best if you want to challenge them head on. We started off well with that 6-3 win in our opening match against Al Ain. After that, we had to keep the foot on the accelerator and not rely on the other teams to do us any favours. We had to beat Al Ain and all other teams. We had to maintain the momentum. We had to take care of our own destiny and win matches. And we did not. We had to rely on our strengths to go all the way, just like we did in the President’s Cup.
Q. Where should the improvements now come?
A. Our dismal form in the first part of the season needs to be our inspiration for next season. If there is a team that defends with nine players, then we need to have that kind of quality in our team to ensure we can open up such defences.
Q. The second-place finish in the league qualifies Al Ahli for the AFC Champions League. What are your thoughts on this?
A. We have always had the AFC Champions League at the back of our mind and now that we have made it, we want to take it one step at a time. Our target should now be to qualify to the knockout stages of the competition next season. We want to take it one step at a time. But for sure our first step will be to get past the group stages first. For us, this is a better target as Al Ahli has never gone past the group stages. A key success for the future would be to first qualify past the group stages and then think beyond that.
Q. And where does the league figure in all this next season?
A. For a team like Al Ahli and with the quality we have, I think we should look at a few fronts at the same time, and not just one. The league title will definitely be a target for next season.
