Al Khor take on Al Sailiya in round two of the QSL today at the Al Khor Stadium. Both sides lost their opening matches and they will be looking to bounce back from their defeats.
Khor head into the second round of the QSL season on the back of a defeat after losing 2-1 to Umm Salal in their the first game of the 2016/2017 season. Abdulkadir Ilyas has also gone back to El Jaish after his loan spell ended with Al Khor.
Jean Fernandez, the head coach of Al Khor wants his team to have a positive reaction to their last defeat. “We lost the first game and we want to come back. We are preparing for Sailiya they are a good team with good qualifications. If we want a good game against Sailiya we need to concentrate,” said Fernandez during the pre-match press conference.
Speaking about the departure of Abdulkadir Ilyas, Fernandez added, “It is something beyond my control and the decision was made by the club management. There is an agreement between AL Khor and El Jaish and we have to respect this agreement.”
“Our plan for the upcoming period is to focus on the Sailiya game. After a week the league will be paused and in this period we have to correct our mistakes with good preparation,” added the Frenchman.
Al Sailiya like their opponents also lost their league opener. They lost by a slim margin against Al Arabi and will be looking to correct their mistakes in the upcoming game against Al Khor.
Sami Trabelsi, head coach of Al Sailiya, believes that there is a long way to go in the league, “We will try to show our character in the next game. Our character is the fighting spirit and team work. We don’t need to make a big deal of losses in the beginning of the season because there is a long way to go.”
“Al Khor didn’t deserve to lose their last game. They are well organised side and they have very fast players. A team like that can face problems like any team,” added the Tunisian tactician.
Speaking about the last game, Trabelsi added, “It was one of the worst games of the last three years for us because we lost our identity and our fighting spirit. I hope we can show our true selves in the upcoming matches.”