JEDDAH, 8 May 2005 — In an unusual show of anger, the desperate coach of Al-Ahli soccer club, Juninho, refused to allow his boys a rest day after their embarrassing defeat at the lowly soccer club Sfaxin of Tunisia 3-0 in the Arab Champions League.
The day-off was supposed to be given on Friday but Juninho called his boys to prepare well in advance for an important match in Saudi Soccer League against Al-Qadisiya. The result of the match will decide Ahli’s fate whether the team is able to compete for a space in the best-of-four teams or will exit from the competition.
Ahli, at 5th place with 26 points from 17 matches, will host Qadisiya, who are at 6th place with 24 points from 18 matches, at Jeddah’s Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium today.
Ahli, who still have five more matches to play in the competition, are looking to win all ties in order to compete against Nasr or Ittihad who have an upper hand with nine points advantage over Ahli.
Bumpy roads are ahead for Ahli as the team will have to clear all hurdles before reaching the crucial stage.
The task of getting all the 15 points from the remaining five matches seems bit difficult as the heavyweights of the league including Al-Qadisiya, Al-Ohud, Al-Ansar, Al-Ittifaq and Al-Shabab are also sharpening their skills to thwart Ahli.
On the other hand, Ahli’s chances of playing against Nasr or Ittihad will stay alive if both teams lose one of their remaining matches.
Dr. Ayman Fadel, the president of Ahli club, said: “Though the team’s poor performance saw them lose against Sfaxin, there is ray of hope and the team hopefully will gain momentum in its next matches. We have put the match behind and will discuss the reasons for the loss.” I’m very optimistic of the team winning in their away match against Tunisia, he said, adding, “This is the right time for Ahli to focus on what is coming and forget about the past.”
Meanwhile, Ahli will play against Al-Zawraa of Iraq on their own home ground on Wednesday in their AFC Champions League match.
