Sharjah midfielder Caio refuses to give up on title hopes after Al-Jazira thrashing…
Marcel Kaizer’s troops are in a good rhythm as they remain unbeaten in five consecutive games following their 3-0 win over erstwhile league leaders Sharjah FC away from home.
The Dutch coach wants to continue with this momentum and is eager to take on Shabab Al-Ahli in their next match, although he feels that it will be a difficult fixture. In the reverse fixture between the two sides, riding on a brace by Ali Mabkhout, they had pumped in five goals past against the Dubai-based club.
“Next game is against Al-Ahli. So we have a difficult schedule at the moment. We know we have to fight there again. It will be a very difficult game but we have confidence and we will prepare well,” stated the manager after the resounding win over Sharjah.
Midfielder Khalfan Mubarak played an instrumental role at the centre of the park and he was elated after the win.
“It was a pressure game with the top two teams in the league and we managed to handle that pressure by imposing our style of play tonight,” he said.
“We had an exceptionally good first half and then we did well to hold Sharjah after Abdalla Ramadan received the red card for two bookable offences. We are very happy with tonight’s work and hopefully, we can take the momentum forward.”
However, Sharjah’s Brazilian playmaker Caio insisted that their title hopes are not up in smoke after a disappointing loss which saw them surrender their top spot.
“The loss to Jazira isn’t going to end our season and our objective is still to win the league. There are many matches left (eight) and we’ll try to win all of them and hope for some results of the other games to come in our favour.”
The player went on to defend their style of play under manager Abdulaziz Al Anbari, which has faced flak from certain fans.
“Many people are commenting on Sharjah’s style of play but we have been successful in winning many games. When the team is winning we all win, and people start to praise, and when we lose we all lose, and people start to comment. Nobody can single out the coach for tonight’s defeat.
“The coach has done a good job before and now, and in the future too. So nobody can pass judgment on his capabilities after this defeat. Everything will be okay if we win the next two or three games.”
Sharjah have managed to get only two points from their last five matches. Sharjah will face another difficult opponent in Al-Nasr on March 7 away from home in their bid to return to winning ways. However, they had lost to Al-Nasr in the President’s Cup 3-0 recently.
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