Athletes confirmed that the absence of the outspoken striker and the final touch prevented the national football team from winning over its Qatari counterpart, the day before yesterday, at the opening of its campaign in the “Gulf 26” championship currently being held in Kuwait, demanding the need to address the defensive and offensive gaps, despite the 1-1 draw.
They told “Emirates Today” that “the team’s chances in the competition have become equal to all the teams in the group, especially after the Kuwait and Oman teams tied in the same group,” explaining that “the team has proven that it has the technical ability that makes it a strong competitor for the title, but it must correct the mistakes.” And focus on the next match against Kuwait.”
The national football coach, Rashid Amer, confirmed that “the team gave everything it had, and was often in control of the course of the game, and wasted many goals by not taking advantage of opportunities that would have been sufficient to achieve victory if they were dealt with in the appropriate manner.”
He said: “We only miss the final touch, because the team was in control in the front line, its lines were interconnected, and it transferred the ball in a beautiful and smooth way.”
Rashid Amer continued: “Choosing the squad is a matter of the coach’s own convictions, and it is easy to criticize the squad, but there are circumstances that only the coach himself knows, by virtue of his follow-up and closeness to the players and their technical levels, because any coach will certainly push the squad that makes him emerge victorious in the match, so he set “Pinto has confidence in the existing players.”
He concluded: “The changes that Pinto made were on the offensive side, and this is an indication that the coach was not satisfied with the draw, and was aspiring to win the match, so he threw all his offensive cards in the second half, but I think the result is fair.”
Luck is against “white”
For his part, the former international football player and technical analyst, Munther Ali, confirmed that “the team played a beautiful match, and had many opportunities, but it did not take advantage of them, and it was only missing a scorer who could translate them into goals.”
He added: “The team is promising, and the technical staff must correct the mistakes that accompanied the Qatar match before facing Kuwait, in order to enhance its chances of obtaining a qualification ticket to the next round.”
Pinto technical estimates
In turn, the technical lecturer for goalkeepers at the Asian Football Confederation and the technical supervisor for the Sharjah goalkeepers, Hassan Ismail, said that “the team played a good match, and the draw was satisfactory,” noting that “the Qatari team respected (Al-Abyad’s) capabilities, so his offensive movements were Calculated, and came out with a break-even point.
Regarding the way and style of play in which Portuguese coach Paulo Bento played the match, he said, “The coach had his own technical assessments, and we do not know the circumstances he faced in the match, whether they were injuries or otherwise,” noting that “the Qatari team closed all spaces in front of the Whites. Especially in the last 15 minutes of the match.”
. .
