Latino styles in the spotlight for the big game

Abu Dhabi: Whenever there is a competition pitting Brazilian and Argentinean football against each other, there is bound to be excitement and entertainment.

This time, the venue is Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium and the time is 7pm tonight. The occasion is the match between Al Jazira and Al Ittihad from Saudi Arabia in the Asian Champions League (ACL).

The Samba is represented by Abel Braga, Al Jazira's head coach while the Tango will be represented by Gabriel Calderon, his counterpart of Al Ittihad.

The two coaches met yesterday at the pre-match press conference and after exchanging pleasantries, welcomed each other and both agreed that the match will be an entertaining event. Both teams will definitely attack as both coaches are known for offensive play.

"Al Jazira is a good and strong team and they have some outstanding players and a good coach and I expect them to apply their usual attacking game," Calderon said in the conference.

"We apply the same strategy and I really expect a strong and exciting match. We have been in different competitions in less than two weeks with most of our players with the Saudi national team playing two strong matches in the qualifiers.

"Then we played a strong match in the Saudi league and we will play the title deciding match on Sunday. Meanwhile, we [will also] have to play in the ACL. Some of the players are exhausted... but we have to adapt and I am satisfied with our preparations for the match."

"We have respect for Al Ittihad as a strong team and the leader of the group but we have no other way than to apply our usual attacking style because we lost five points in our two matches so far and we have to compensate for that by scoring goals and winning points," Braga said.

Misha'al Al Saeed, an Al Ittihad player said: "We lead the group after two matches and we have to continue winning to end the first round with full points to strengthen our hopes of retaining the title we won in 2004 and 2005.

"The task will not be easy because Al Jazira are a good team but we have to face the best of the continent to win the title" he said.