Arabian Gulf Cup: Big guns clash but biggest names missing
Al Ain could be without 12 players due to national team duty, Al Jazira missing nine
Abu Dhabi: When Al Ain and Al Jazira — two giants of UAE football — meet, there’s usually fireworks.
But, for their meeting in the Arabian Gulf Cup at the Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday, some of the usual zeal will be missing, as visiting Al Ain will be without up to 12 players, while Al Jazira will miss nine seniors for the clash.
Eight of The Boss players will be on national duty with Mahdi Ali’s UAE team, who take on Myanmar in a friendly at Zayed Sports City the same evening. Three others are part of the UAE’s under-23 Olympics squad so will also be missing.
But Nigerian striker Emmanuel Emenike, who missed Al Ain’s 3-1 home win over Al Dhafra in last week’s Arabian Gulf League opener, should return to action. However, he is expected to be on the field for only 45 minutes or so as coach Zlatko Dalic doesn’t want to push him too hard as he recovers from injury.
“Emenike has regained full fitness and he will be available for the match. He was out of action for almost 10 days so we will not give him too much of a test,” said Dalic, who revealed the striker will join his national squad straight after the match.
Defender Mohammad Fayez, meanwhile, has failed to recover from injury. “Fayez has responded well to treatment but is still not fully fit. We want to make sure he is 100 per cent ready. However, we have enough players on the bench to provide back-up for this match,” said Dalic.
“This tournament [Arabian Gulf Cup] helps all the teams to give an opportunity to their reserves. We will be missing almost 12 players for this match but I must say it is better than last year. The bench strength is better this time round and we are confident of a good show.
“I would say both teams are on an even ground going into the contest as both will be missing players. We will try to give our best.”
Al Jazira coach Abel Braga said: “This tournament is important and adds great value. The derby will be a great contest and we will make sure that our team plays well.
“The Arabian Gulf Cup is very important to us and we will use it in a positive way and compete strongly. The players on the bench will benefit from it. It’s an opportunity to give them more exposure and experience.”
