Murad Al-Masry (Dubai)
Al-Wahda is preparing to meet the Saudi youth on Sunday, in the quarter-finals of the King Salman Cup for the Champions Clubs, in a “special” match in view of the “familiar faces” between the two teams, in addition to the accounts related to the desire of both “the Excellencies” and “Al-Laith” to continue progressing. After the two teams won respect in the group stage.
“Al-Anabi” traveled to the Saudi city of Taif, after playing its matches in the group stage in Abha, where the match will be held at King Fahd Stadium, and the date is in order to try to win the boarding pass to the “Golden Square”.
South African coach Pitso Musimani, Al-Wahda coach, is looking forward to leaving his mark in the confrontation, as fate brought him to the “Saudi” path, where he meets with the youth, and in the event of ascension, he plays with the winner from facing Al-Hilal and the Saudi Al-Ittihad, and he is the one who did not get the opportunity to complete the task. In the Saudi Professional League, after he led Al-Ahly to win the First Division title last season.
Musimani indicated, after the end of his team’s confrontation against Moroccan Raja, at the end of the group stage, that he felt comfortable, given his ability to implement the plans he wanted, and said: “Many changes were made to the squad, and I was able to involve all players, with the aim of preparing them for the” League Championship. Adnoc Professionals.
Regarding the anticipation of entering the quarter-finals, he said: “We meet the leaders of Group C, and as I mentioned previously, we are testing our strength in the quarter-finals, and we are ready.”
Argentine Christian Guanca will be in front of a match that bears a distinct memory for him, and he played in Al-Shabab in two periods from 2019 to 2021, and during the last season 2022-2023, with a total of 100 official matches in various tournaments, before moving from “Al-Laith” to “Al-Annabi”. Especially summer, and he returns to meet familiar faces.
Also, Joao Pedro had previously faced Al-Shabab twice, when he was in the ranks of Al-Fateh, specifically the 2017-2018 season, and he did not know the loss, and he won once, tied the same, and scored one goal.
On the youth side, Dutch coach Marcel Kaiser knows Al-Wahda well, and he coached Al-Jazira until the end of last season, before he reached the leadership of the Saudi team, with the launch of this tournament in particular, and despite the criticism of the performance, but he knew how to come out with what was required, and achieve 7 points, with which he topped the group standings, ahead of the star-studded victory, led by Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo.
Kaiser believes that his team’s superiority in the last match against Al-Ittihad Monastir with a goal could have been achieved with a “return” greater than the goals, and he said: “We went through stages of ups and downs in performance, but in the second half we had many opportunities that we did not score from, and we were able to Winning by three, not just by goal difference.
He added, “Our team is improving in every match, and the most important thing at this stage is to pass the group stage and reach the second stage, and we are at the top of the standings.”
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