Abu Dhabi: Al Wahda take on Oceania Group club champions Hekari United from Papua New Guinea to kick start the 7th Fifa Club World Cup at the Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium at 8pm tonight.
Esmail Matar, who was picked over Andreas Iniesta as Player of the Tournament in the 2003 Fifa Youth World Cup held here, and since then has only the Gulf Cup victory to show, is keen to reveal his skills while Al Wahda itself will be looking to get past the little-known club from Papua New Guinea and book a quarter-final meeting with Asian club champions Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.
Austrian coach Josef Hickesberger, who was reunited with his team three months after winning the league title, told Gulf News, "When I came here after Tete [former Al Wahda coach] left Al Wahda I saw a strange hand of destiny. To be honest I am not a very religious person but at that moment I felt that this must be a signal from above …. To be back with my team and lead them to this prestigious event."
Cautious approach
Equipped with one of the best UAE club sides with Brazilians Fernando Baiano, Hugo Henrique and Marcio Magrao complementing a highly talented set of UAE national team players, Hickesberger is however adopting a cautious approach. "Most important is this first match. We have to beat Hekari United, that is our biggest challenge. My players will have to cope with the pressure of high expectations. So we have to take it step by step. We do not want to look ahead and fall at the first step."
While Al Wahda will be starting off as favourites, Hekari's skipper Andrew Lepani expressed his team's hunger to do well on what is a huge opportunity for his players. "We are here to mean business and we want to win the match. Ever since we won in May the focus has just been this event," said the Programme Officer with UNDP.
