Dubai: Al Hilal’s Argentine coach Juan Ignacio Brown is confident his team can take that one final step once they lined up Borussia Dortmund in the final of the Hamdan Bin Mohammad U-17 International Football Championships, to be played on Sunday.
Brown, who had promised to take “one step at a time” last week in this eight-team under-17 competition, insisted that the final step will be the most important when Al Hilal face the German giants at 6pm on Sunday.
“Anything can happen in a final. We have come so far with our hard work and focus and I don’t see any reason why my players will stop at just being in a final. We will be looking for a win,” Brown told Gulf News.
Al Hilal stunned fancied Real Madrid 4-3 during extra time, while Dortmund fought back from a goal down to defeat Internacional, Brazil 2-1 in the two semi-finals played at the Dubai Police Officers Club late on Friday.
Trailing the Spanish giants 2-3 till the final minute, substitute Salem Al Saleem first secured the equaliser in the 90th and then slammed in the winning goal midway through the first period of extra time to ensure the upset.
“There is no secret behind this win. We always believed we can take on the best, but the crucial point is that we stay focused for every match. Now we are in the final and we can dream of what we want to do,” the lanky Argentine coach explained.
In the earlier semi-final, Dortmund bounced back from a goal deficit to down 10-man Internacional 2-1 with Ozkan Terzioglu slamming in the winner two minutes from the full-time whistle.
Dortmund coach Christian Fluethmann was pleased with the way his team fought till the end. “Ultimately, I think we showed better mental strength today. We believed we could win and that was the key all along,” the German said.
“We are not too worried about what will happen in the final as we go in with a clean record. We have shown we can rise to the occasion and Sunday will be no different. We will be ready for a tough fight,” he added.
Sunday will see the third place play-off between Real Madrid and Internacional at 3.45pm, followed by the final between Al Hilal and Borussia Dortmund at 6pm. Entrance is free and there will be raffle draws for spectators.
