Eljaish’s Saad Al Shammari (left) and Brazilian striker Adriano pose next to the Qatar Stars Cup trophy in Doha yesterday. Eljaish take on Al Arabi in the Qatar Stars Cup final to be played at Qatar Sports Club today.
DOHA: Eljaish today will be eyeing their maiden piece of silverware when they take on Al Arabi in the final of the Qatar Stars Cup.
Al Arabi, on the other hand, will be aiming for a title win to erase the bad memories of a horrendous Qatar Stars League (QSL) season in which they fired coaches to get good results.
Al Arabi coach Abdulaziz Bennij knows this is a chance for both clubs to write a special chapter in their history with a Cup win that will be long remembered.
For Bennij – who took over a struggling Al Arabi side battling relegation – the appearance in a final vindicates all the hard work put in since his appointment.
“We reached this final after a strong performance. I think we deserve to be here and for sure it’s going to be a tough game because of who we are playing,” Bennij said. “We have a lot of players absent but the players who play will do so to win the Cup. We will still play 11 players and respect our opponent. I think they should also respect us.”
Bennij is still shell-shocked after three of his players were sent off in an ugly confrontation in the semi-final win over Al Gharafa.
“We are sorry for what happened in the last game. Of course we are affected by it but I don’t think there are players who want to act like this,” the Moroccan coach added.
“In football this sort of thing can happen. It is in the past now.
“We didn’t talk about how we won against Al Gharafa. We spoke only about the fight.
“There will be players who have never played for the first team who will start the game. I am sure they will play with discipline and organization. They need to respect the rules of football.
“Most of the work this week involved talking to players to make sure there wasn’t too much pressure on them. I wanted the players to experience some fun training. In two days you cannot prepare a team for a final but this worked before and hopefully it works again.”
For Romanian coach Lucescu, the chance to win a Cup final is something that would mean everything to himself in Eljaish.
“We have prepared well. The players put in a huge effort against Lekhwiya so we have simply been trying to recover,” Lucescu said.
“The most important thing is we are in the final. The motivation is high because we have the possibility to win a competition. The players have the chance to be a big part of the history of this club.
“It will be the first trophy for this club but I know our opponents will think the same. In a final, anything can happen.
“Al Arabi have had some very good and surprising results. Since the coach took over he has done very well. Reaching this final, beating Al Sadd and their results against Al Rayyan and Al Gharafa makes it very clear this will be a tough game. We need to give more than 100 per cent.”
The match kicks-off at Qatar Sports Club at 6:30pm today.
THE PENINSULA
