Mahdi Ali: important match needs more concentration

Speaking at the prematch press conference, Mahdi Ali, head coach of Shabab Alahli, assured that his team is ready for the semifinal match of the UAE President’s cup against Baniyas at Sharjah Stadium at 5:30 pm on Monday.

Mahdi described the match as important calling upon his players to focus and concentrate more to win the game, adding that Shabab Alahli has great experience in dealing with this kind of matches.

Regarding his team’s preparation for the match Mahdi said:” The problem facing the teams is the short preparation period. We need at least a week to prepare the team since we are playing a match every three days, which led to injuries and absence of some players, but we know how to prepare the players.”

The coach welcomes the new signing Omar Abdel Rahman “he is an important and influential player for the club and the national team, and he is a source of joy for the fans. We are happy to have him with us, and keen to support and prepare him to come back” said Mahdi.

Abdel Aziz Heikal who accompanied the coach in the press conference said: “We know the importance and difficulty of the match,  the winner will qualify to the final of the cup, we will do our best to make our fans happy with the help of the technical and medical team.”