Abu Dhabi: Al Ain’s crushing 6-2 victory over second-placed Al Wahda in round 18 has very much put them in the driver’s seat to clinch the Arabian Gulf League title.
On a crucial night at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain rose to the occasion with a goal feast and has put themselves four points clear of Al Wahda.
Al Ain were leading 2-0 at the break riding on goals from Marcus Berg and Brazilian Caio, but Al Wahda’s Hungarian winger Balazs Dzsudzsak, who came in as a substitute pumped in two goals in two minutes to draw level.
Though the hosts regrouped quickly to hammer four more goals to seal an authoritative win, an elated coach Zoran Mamic minced no words in expressing his disappointment with the way they conceded the two goals and warned against complacency in the remaining fixtures.
“There is great happiness as the players showed great fighting spirit, but I’m very upset by the fact that my team gave away two goals in quick succession. Things could be resolved quickly but I hope we do not repeat such mistakes in the remaining matches,” said Mamic, adding that a lot was going through his mind after Al Wahda came roaring back into the match.
“I was thinking about all the odds and the worst conditions that could happen during such a confrontation. Thankfully, Al Ain was able to show their fighting spirit. That’s what you expect from a big team like Al Ain in such keenly contested encounters,” said Mamic, whose side, with this win, also avenged their humiliating 5-1 Arabian Gulf Cup loss to Al Wahda.
“The truth is that our match against Al Wahda in the Cup was very different, because we played in the absence of 10 players. Today, it was different team and all the players have done their duties as required,” said Mamic, who asked his players not to lower their guard just because they have got the edge.
“We have more important games and we have to be more calm and focused. Take some rest before getting into our preparatory programmes for our Asian Champions League match. We have four matches in the Arabian Gulf League and we need to be more cautious and be very intelligent in dealing with them,” asserted Mamic.
Al Wahda coach Laurentiu Reghecampf accepted that his side was outplayed, but vowed to come back strongly in the remaining fixture.
“Al Ain was better than us in the game and they won by scoring many goals. We will fight until the end. It was a championship game and that’s why we feel sad to lose it. We were not lucky also. We have to be smart in the difficult times and we will regain our balance quickly,” said Reghecampf.
