Al Duhail’s new coach Nabil Maaloul
Doha: Al Duhail’s new coach Nabil Maaloul will face his first major test in the Sheikh Jassim Cup final when the QNB Stars League (QSL) champions take on Amir Cup runners-up Al Rayyan on August 1 at the Al Sadd Stadium at 7.00pm.
The 56-year old, who coached Tunisia at the recently concluded World Cup in Russia, took over as coach of the Qatar side after Algerian tactician Jamal Belmadi stepped down.
Belamdi guided the team to a host of titles and an impressive run in the AFC Champions League in which Al Duhail have reached the quarter-finals.
The Tunisian will be hoping for a winning start in the one off match between the two sides which will kick off the new football season in Qatar.
Last season, Al Duhail swept almost all the titles at stake which included the QSL, Amir Cup and Qatar Cup with only the season-opening Sheikh Jassim Cup eluding them.
In the continental club champions, the Qatari club has qualified for the quarter-finals and will take on Iranian club Persepolis on August 28.
Maaloul will have to live up to the high standards set by Belamdi while preparing the team for both the local challenges and the upcoming international club competitions.
Al Duhail management set the ball in motion with the pre-season training and further fine tuning them by playing some challenging friendlies during the Austria training camp.
Out of the three friendlies they played in Leogang, Austria, they won two and lost one.
They defeated Austrian side Bischofshofen in the first friendly match and followed it up with yet another win over Akhmat Grozny of Russian.
The team however found a match in Turkish side Akhisarspor to whom they went down 2-1.
Al Duhail’s Sheikh Jassim Cup rivals Al Rayyan also had their pre-season training camp in Europe and have since returned to Doha resuming training immediately.
The 2015-16 QSL champions travelled to Austria for a pre-season training camp that lasted for over a couple of weeks. The team also played friendly games during their sojourn which included a hectic training schedule.
Al Rayyan went empty handed last season, failing to win any titles under popular coach Michael Laudrup.
The Lions, under new coach Rodolfo Arruabarrena of Argentina are also targeting success in the new season.
Al Rayyan have already shown form during their Austrian tour on which they also defeated Czech side SC Znojmo 2-0 on Wednesday - their last friendly match of the tour. Star Rodrigo Tabata and Muwafaq netted goals in the win.
However, beating Al Duhail, who clinched three titles last season, will be an uphill task for the former QSL champions.
Meanwhile, Qatar Football Association (QFA) have informed that if the game ends in a draw there will be no extra time, but teams will go directly for the tie breaker to determine the winning team.
QFA informed that a series of meetings have been held for the smooth conduct of the event while the technical meeting will be held next tomorrow morning, attended by representative of both the teams and officials of QFA.
The gates will be open to the public at 5 pm while tickets are available at the stadium in the designated venues, at the main entrance of the stadium.
Both the teams have been using the social media handles to promote the game and a lot of interest has been generated on the social networking platform.
Both teams have been very active in their bid to mobilise fans for the final, which will create herald the start of the highly anticipated new football season.
