Al Kharaitiyat take on Al Arabi in round three of the QSL today at the Al Khor stadium. Kharaitiyat started of the season with one loss and one win. They will be looking to find their rhythm after the international break with a win against Al Arabi.
Amar Osim, the head coach of Kharaitiyat is happy with his team’s preparation: “It’s been a long time we didn’t play a competitive game. The league started and we had an international break. It gave us time to work on our tactics and practice and improve our fitness. We will find out in the game if we are up to the standard.”
Speaking about his opponents, Osim added, “I watched the two games they played and there is a problem when facing Al Arabi as we don’t know who is going to play for them and it’s hard to plan against them. But we know that we are playing against a tough team and when we play against Al Arabi our players are motivated.”
“We had defensive issues last year and we have issues this year as well. It is definitely something we need to work on because we have already conceded 5 goals in the league already,” added the Bosnian tactician.
Al Arabi like their opponents has registered three points from two games. The Reds played out a thrilling 7-goal thriller against El Jaish in their last game but ended up losing 4-3. They will be looking to get back to winning ways against Kharaitiyat
Gerardo Pelusso, The head coach of Al Arabi is wary of the threat his opponents possess, “Kharaitiyat is a well-organized team and the coach has been with them since the last year. They beat Al Wakrah away so it will be a hard team to beat.”
“The break period was very beneficial for us as we used this period to restore our injured players like Paulinho, Jimenez and Mohammed Salim. They might not be ready for the upcoming game but might be available for the one after that,” added the Uruguayan tactician.
Speaking about the defensive qualities of the opposition Pelusso added, “Al Kharaitiyat are organised in defence. They have good players like Domingos and in this stage I can’t say how we can go through the defence but in the game we will try to figure it out.”