Long break

We are, hopefully, in the league’s final break. The Saudi national team is in training camp in Malaysia in preparation for the second match against Indonesia this coming Saturday in Jakarta.
I think this long break is unnecessary since the league is almost in the final stages, the players are in their fitness peak, and a five-day-rest is more than enough, 10 is just too much.
They had a warm up match against Malaysia early this week and it was okay, I don’t think a match is needed especially when they are going to meet Indonesia then the whole Asian Cup qualifying tournament will stop till middle of October. It’s best to go all out just before October.
As for the Asian Champions League last Wednesday, Hilal beat Alray’yan from Qatar in Riyadh. Their ranking went up from last to second thanks to the poor performance by Ray’yan.
Hilal’s game in the first half was nothing remarkable but in the second half, some of the players did very well. Alshalhoub who is the match’s deserving MVP has assisted Yasser in the first goal and he himself scored the third goal.
Hilal’s coach, on the other hand, needs to be more careful with his plans. Wesly Lopes has been doing great in his original position as a striker and not a midfielder. Forced in that position, he will be as lost as he was in that previous match. Now the competition is expected to get harder as all of the teams will be giving their last push to get to the second round. Any lose of points can be fatal.
Same thing goes to other Saudi teams in this championship, especially Ittifaq which has only two points from two draws. Shabab also received a draw last week and lost the chance to win.
Ahli so far is in the best position without any lost points and with two wins. With a very stable position, one more win and Ahli has second round in the bag.