FIFA Award Them,” Guardiola Told British Exciting Homegrown Striker in Media
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NBA| Page 6 CCRICKET|RICKET Page 7 Westbrook Anderson To Advertise here shines as powers Kiwis Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621 Thunder to T20 sweep edge Nuggets over B’desh Monday, January 9, 2017 FOOTBALL Rabia II 11, 1438 AH Chelsea and Spurs GULF TIMES advance in FA Cup, Liverpool held SPORT Page 2 PREVIEW Leaders Lekhwiya wary of surging Gharafa By Sports Reporter rah was a bad result. We must win to Doha keep pressure on the leaders, the team have been putting in good perform- ances lately and we need more of the op of the table Lekhwiya will same against Al Arabi,” said El Jaish be wary of a surging Al Ghara- coach Sabri Lamouchi. fa when they clash in round “My focus is only on the games in 15 of the Qatar Stars League January right now. My team’s per- Ttoday. formance is important to me and I Lekhwiya, chasing their fi fth title, won’t be looking for the results of the have profi ted from some lacklustre teams above me for now,” added Lam- performances by early leaders El Jaish ouchi. in December to leap to the top of the Lamouchi admitted that his side are standings. But Djamel Belmadi’s men looking to improve their fi tness. “I am are fully aware that complacency can trying to get players fi t all the time to come to haunt them towards the late improve my squad. If a player from stage of the event if they drop a few another side came up, of course we points in the coming few weeks. Crucial clash: Lekhwiya coach Djamel Belmadi and his Al Gharafa counterpart Pedro Caixinha would be interested providing every- “Al Gharafa have good quality at- thing is right to make a deal.” tackers who can change a game at national duty for Morocco at the Af- games against Al Gharafa and Al Sadd want to win this game, the last time playing. They will have 11 players at Al Arabi, meanwhile, will be target- any moment in (Wladimir) Weiss and rican Nations Cup, and Belmadi has four days later. The players who are we played Lekhwiya we scored four the end. All I care about is our style ing their fi rst win of the new year. (Krisztian) Nemeth. It’s diffi cult to urged his players to step up so they available will make a big performance. goals but lost. We have shown that we and how we play against Lekhwiya,” “Expectations will be high for both defi ne their style as it has changed don’t feel his absence. I hope as a squad we show plenty of have improved defensively. It’s im- added the Portuguese coach. teams. We are looking to fi nd a bal- from week to week recently. That said “My players have a little extra re- personality, character and pass this portant that we need to get the win- Meanwhile, third-placed El Jaish ance for our side. We played well we will play our way and style against sponsibility now with Yusef El Arabi important time without any major ning mentality and a big performance take on Al Arabi hoping to make up against Sailiya but didn’t get the result Al Gharafa and get the result we need,” leaving. However we have important problems.” against the top of the table will help for some lacklustre performances in we needed. Against Jaish, we need to Lekhwiya coach Belmadi noted at his players in our squad such as Nam tae- Al Gharafa coach Pedro Caixinha, our confi dence,” he said. recent weeks. create and convert the chances we get pre-match press conference. Hee, who recently became the club’s however, is certain this match is like “We need to be disciplined in de- “It’s always diffi cult to play against and hopefully we can get a result that Lekhwiya will be without leading all-time leading scorer. a fi nal. fence. We need to show character in Al Arabi, one of the biggest teams in we need,” noted their Brazilian coach scorer Yusef El Arabi who is on inter- “It is a busy period for us with “We are ready for our next fi nal. We attack, I don’t care who they will be Qatar. Our last game against Al Wak- Edison Aguire. QATAR STARS LEAGUE SPOTLIGHT Al Ahli eye upset Garcia goal gives against Al Sadd By Sports Reporter champs Rayyan 1-0 Doha l Ahli are eyeing an upset against Al Sadd in the Qa- tar Stars League today with Acoach Yousef Adam insist- ing that all the pressure will be on the win over Umm Salal former champions. “Al Sadd are a strong team, but Three players sent off with straight red cards following massive off -the-ball brawl even if they have injured players they have the quality off the bench to make up for it. It will be a tough game but By Sports Reporter players who created the fi rst goal collaborated on we are aiming to cause an upset,” the Doha this eff ort as well. However, Diba scuff ed his shot former Qatar international said. from a Tursonov cross and forced a diving save by “The absence of Baghdad the Al Wakrah ’keeper Hassan Idriss. Bounedjah and Hassan Haydoos will ergio Garcia scored the only goal of the Kharaitiyat then added a second goal to the be a major loss for their side, but they match as Al Rayyan held on for a narrow score sheet as Domingos scored his second goal have a young squad and plenty of 1-0 win against Umm Salal in a fi esty QSL of the season. Anwar Diba sent in a corner and the players who can cause problems for Sencounter yesterday. unmarked Brazilian defender headed the ball into us.” However the game descended into a farce in the the goal from close range in the 59th minute. 75th minute when the referee rightly sent off three Al Wakrah fought back with a goal of their own “Al Sadd are a strong team, players who were all involved in an off -the-ball in the 72nd minute. Mohsine Moutouali’s long- but even if they have injured melee. range free-kick found Ahmad Koheyl in the six- players they have the quality Chances were few and far between in the fi rst yard box. The Qatari defender guided the ball into off the bench to make up for it. half; the closest Michael Laudrup’s side came was the far side net, fi nding the keeper, Ahmed Sufy- It will be a tough game but we in the 24th minute when Garcia swept in a great an, on the wrong side. are aiming to cause an upset.” cross but no Al Rayyan attacker was on the end of Al Wakrah could not manage another goal and it. Kharaitiyat were successful in securing their “The pressure is on Al Sadd to win. As the tie moved towards half-time, Umm Salal fourth win of the season which takes them out of We know how to face them and my began to regain possession and put pressure on Al the drop zone into ninth place with 15 points. players have plenty of confi dence. Rayyan from set pieces. The best chance of the tie We are always looking to win, and we fell to Umm Salal front man Yannack Sagbo, who trust ourselves to get the result that had a snap shot on the 38th minute that drew a we need to help Al Ahli push up the good save from Rayyan keeper Omar Barry. table.” In the second half, Al Rayyan scored the only As for Al Sadd, who are in second game of the tie thanks to their most lively player place on 34 points, two behind Le- Garcia. khwiya, a big win will come as a mo- Captain Rodrigo Tabata whipped in a curved rale boost considering the fact they free-kick which fl icked off the head of the former struggled to beat Al Kharaitiyat 2-1 in Spanish international and nestled into the bottom December. right hand corner for his fi fth goal of the season. “We will be without some key play- Moments later Umm Salal smacked the cross Al Rayyan and Umm Salal players were involved in a brawl that resulted in straight red cards for ers in the coming games now. The bar from Brazilian defender Anderson, who had three players. At right Al Rayyan players celebrate after Garcia scored the only goal of the match. match against Al Ahli will be tough stepped up to take a free-kick. but we always aim to get three points The QSL champions found their attacking both Víctor Cáceres and Abdulkarim al-Ali of Al Tursonov sent in an inch-perfect cross from and that will not change on Monday,” verve as the second half progressed and had a gilt- Rayyan whilst Sagbo of Umm Salal also saw red the byline towards Anwar Diba who headed the said coach Jesualdo Ferreira. edged chance to double their advantage thanks to for his role in the melee. ball into the top left corner to make it 1-0 for the Ferriera ended his press confer- forward Ahmed Alaaeldin. Right back and brother Meanwhile, Al Kharaitiyat took on Al Wakrah Thunders. ence praising the goal from defender Mohamed Alaaeldin put in a perfect cross. How- at the Al Khor Stadium yesterday. Kharaitiyat Wakrah had the majority of the possession Ibrahim to win the game against Al ever the Qatar U23 international unexpectedly head coach, Ahmed al-Ajlani got the better of his in the fi rst half but could not capitalise on their Kharaitiyat.