JEDDAH, 2 May 2006 — Serbian coach Nebousha felt he fell short of expectations from his bosses at Al-Ahli and wanted to resign when Ahli lost the first stepladder final match against Al-Ittihad in the Saudi Soccer League on the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup. He was prevailed upon to stay by Ahli management.
Now firmly back at the helm of the underachieving Jeddah-based club, Nebousha is giving himself a year to turn around the fortunes of the green-and-white team and win a championship or two.
In an interview to Arab News, Nebousha said that when he came to Saudi Arabia his aim was to build on the potentials of a young team on the way to the title. He promised himself that if he did not reach his goal he would resign because he did not achieve what was expected.
Nebousha, however, lamented the fact that he came at the difficult time and in the middle of the season. The performance of Ahli truly did grow and improve even though they did not win the title this year.
But given more time, proper training and exposure, Nebousha said, “I assure you they will claim the Saudi league title.”
In dissecting Al-Ahli’s failure against Ittihad Nebousha cited the lack of experience that weighed heavily against Ahli. Still, he took responsibility for the setback and offered to resign pronto. The Ahli management requested him to continue coaching which he accepted and signed for a one-year contract extension.
Nebousha shared his observations at Ahli as he tries to implement changes that will benefit the team in the long haul.
The first problem at Ahli, he said, was that a lot of big players had been playing in the team without achieving anything. Some players had showed a level of improving, and those he will always push them so they can move forward.
But he rues the bad vibes that affect the team saying, “I can not afford to have negative energy in the team because of those who can not give me the results I want and can affect the rest of the players.”
The coach explained that when for example you see Morrocan midfielder Abdulhaq Al-Arief in the field, the fans expect him to set up good goals for the strikers, but as a coach, I expected him to be a third striker and he failed to do that.”He cheated on me when he said he could do it but could not and just clowned his way around.” He said that in Al-Arief’s previous 17 games that he played he did not help score goals, it was always Turki Al-Thagafi and other players. Al-Arief scored one goal, and two were penalty goals.
To the question Ahli seemed to almost always crack under pressure during the big game Nebousha said he could not account to what has happened before. But, for the meanwhile, this will not happen as he is trying to educate them to accept such mistakes and continue playing with an even greater performance.
To emphasize his belief that there is wisdom in starting a team with young players, Nebousha cited the Shabab experience in which young players were used in the three leagues they entered including the Saudi league which the Riyadh-based club won.
And instead of depending on only the experienced and old players, the coach said, “if I did not train these junior players and concentrate on them, who would have replaced them when they are playing at the World Cup!”
The mental toughness of these players need to be developed because they unfortunately lack education and can not accept defeat.
Nebousha said of the 40 players on the roster only 20 have contracts with the club. “The rest without contracts are free to leave whenever they want. But those who have contracts, and are on the transfer list can be transferred whenever a better offer comes along and suits the club. And as for the old ones, I suggest they move to other clubs.”
Nebousha has full support to the Saudi national team “though I only have one player from my club playing in the World Cup” and, of course, to “my Serbia and Montenegro national team.”
The Saudi national team, he said, have shown better performance during the previous years and do have the chance to win their first match. He also said that if they did win their first match they would have what it takes to reach the quarterfinals.
Though Nebousha wished that five Ahli players were on the World Cup team, national coach Marcos Paqueta’s decision is not to be questioned.
Nebousha’s last job before the Ahli offer was as coach at Al-Wakrah club of Qatar for around one year. He piloted the club to second place in the Qatar league winning 15 games out of 19 and drawing two.
As a coach, Nebousha is partial to the way Europeans play the game and this is the style he wants to teach his wards. “Because it is not just a game, it is also the business and the skill they have which must be used well to give them a better life.”
Nebousha, meantime, rates Hussain Abdulghani as a great player with the potential to shine in the international arena and sees Mussa Muatazz and Homud from the junior ranks developing into good midfielders in future.
