Rui Faria, Al Duhail coach
Leaders Al Duhail will be looking to extend their lead at the top while defending champions Al Sadd have some catching up to do in the second leg of the QNB Stars League (QSL) which kicks off from January 2.
Coach Rui Faria’s side, the only two unbeaten sides in the championships so far, sit atop the points standings with 29 points. Al Duhail picked up nine wins and two draws in the first leg while scoring 24 goals.
Faria knows that a huge task awaits them in the upcoming weeks and he would not want any slip-up in their race to the title when they play Qatar SC on January 4, who are seventh with 13 points.
“We focus on each match taking the match by match approach. I think the team have a lot of work in the upcoming period,” The Portuguese trainer had said after the end of the first leg.
Al Duhail title aspirations has got a short in the arm with the recruitment of Croatian professional Mario Mandzukic, who recently joined the Qatari club after a long professional journey in Europe where he played for several top notch clubs like Wolfsburg, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid and Juventus.
Besides the second phase of QSL, Faria will be keen to defend the Qatar Cup 2020 championship title, which will be contested by his club along with Al Sadd, Al Sailiya and Al Rayyan.
Al Duhail defeated Al Sadd 2-1 in the last edition of the championship.
The first semi-finals which be between Al Duhail and Al Sailiya on January 10, while the second match will be between Al Sadd and Al Rayyan on January 11.
The final match will be held on January 17.
On the other hand, Al Sadd who have 18 points from nine matches, will be looking to move up the points table. At the end of the first leg they are in the fourth spot behind Al Rayyan (25 points from 11) and Al Gharafa (20 points from 11). Al Sadd have two matches in hand as their games against Al Arabi and Al Khor were deferred due to their AFC Champions League engagements.
Al Sadd resumed training for the second leg without Tarek Salman, Meshaal Barsham and Hashim Ali, who are away with the Qatar U-23 for AFC U-23 Championship in Thailand.
Head coach Xavi Hernandez and his staff are working on preparing the players well for the upcoming phase of matches, which will see numerous challenges both at home and in Asia.
Al Sadd will face off Al Wakrah, who are ninth in the standings with 12 points, on January 2 and on the same day Al Ahli take on Al Arabi.
Al Ahli are eighth with 13 points and Al Arabi sixth with 15 points.
Even though Al Ahli have the same number of points as Qatar SC, the latter are ahead on better goal difference (-3 as against Al Ahli’s -4).
Al Shahania, 11th with five points, face a difficult task when they run into third-placed Al Gharafa (20 points).
Same is the case with bottom-placed Umm Salal who are up against high-flying Al Rayyan, second in the table with 25 points.
Umm Salal and Al Shahania both are on five points, but the latter are ranked better by virtue of goal difference (-14 compared to Umm Salal’s -16).
Al Khor (10th with six points) and Al Sailiya (fifth with 17 points) will both target full points, the former to stay away from the danger zone and the latter to be in the top four.
