Sharjah eye ACL berth; Isaila vows to take title fight down to the wire

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

Sharjah will look to extend their winning streak and finish the season in the top three to guarantee themselves a  berth in the Asian Champions League (ACL) next season.

The defending champions, who are at the third spot, will take on Ajman in their 25th round match of the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) on Friday.

Sharjah are at the third spot with 45 points, six adrift of leaders Al Jazira and trailing second place Bani Yas by five points. Top three finishers in the AGL automatically qualify for the continental championship.

After a stupendous show at the ACL, Sharjah continued the same form in the domestic league and thrashed Hatta 3-0 in their last outing.

Sharjah coach Abdulaziz Al Anbari predicted a tough match against Ajman, who are nine places behind them in the standings.

“It is an important match against a strong team. We will look to continue to put up the performance. After a brilliant show at the ACL and a convincing 3-0 victory against Hatta, the morale of the team is high.

“Despite the lack of success that they had in this season, Ajman give a tough competition to their rivals. Their strength cannot be judged by their position in the table.

“They are more dangerous, especially at this time when they are fighting for their survival in the top flight,” said Anbari.

Sharjah player Shaheen Abdul Rahman said: “We are ready for the match and we will try to win the match to increase our chances of moving up in the standings.”

Bani Yas coach Daniel Isaila vowed to take the title fight down to the wire. Bani Yas are keeping hot on the heels of the leaders Al Jazira, who are leading them by just one point.

With just one round remaining, the battle for the title looked set to go till the last game. One mistake can cost the title to either team.

“Nothing has changed in terms of our position in the table. We stumbled against Shabab Al Ahli and Al Jazira were held by Ajman. So the point difference remained the same. We will try to compensate for Al Dhafra in the next match and come out with full points.”

Regarding the previous match, the coach indicated that we faced a strong team that came after its victory over the Saudi Asian champion Al Hilal in the Asian Champions League, so it was not an easy match for us.

“Now we have to focus on the next two matches and not look at the results of Al Jazira, as we must focus and make all our efforts to win and get the remaining six points, and then see what Al Jazira will achieve in these two matches,” he stressed.

“The pressures at this stage are on all teams. The teams, who are fighting for the title, the ones who are looking for an automatic qualification for the ACL or the ones who are striving to remain afloat in the top flight,” he added.

The coach explained that there are still doubts about the readiness of Joao Victor for the next match, but apart from that, everyone is ready for this confrontation.

“If we compare with the level of Bani Yas in the previous seasons and the current season, we are witnessing a great and remarkable development in the level of performance, style of play, results, even the mentality of the players who have become satisfied only by winning.

“These are all factors that promise that Bani Yas will be a force to be reckon with in the coming seasons,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, Al Jazira coach Marcel Keizer described the upcoming derby game against Al Ain as a tough and important game for his team. He insisted that Al Ain are still a strong opponent regardless of their position in the league table.

“It’s going to be challenging, and we still remember how difficult the away match against them was, we conceded two goals but the red card against them helped us  equalise the score and return from there with one point.

“Al Ain will always be a strong opponent, and their position in the league table this season will not change this fact.

“We know how strong they are and they know how good and strong we are.”