Al Sadd's Akram Afif with team-mates during a practice session on the eve of their Amir Cup semi-final against Al Duhail. Bottom: Al Duhail players during a practice session.
Doha: Al Sadd, Amir Cup’s most successful side, will be targeting their 25th appearance in the final of the prestigious event when they will meet defending champions Al Duhail in the second semi-final at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, today.
Today’s winners will meet Al Arabi in the title-deciding match as ‘The Dream Team’ defeated Al Markhiya in yesterday’s first semi-final. The high-profile clash will kick off at 6:00pm with all available tickets being already sold out, the organisers announced yesterday.
Al Duhail, under the guidance of their new coach Sabri Lamouchi, will set their sights on a fourth Amir Cup title, but 16-time champions Al Sadd will not be an easy hurdle to cross as the Xavi Hernandez-coached side has shown top form in their recent outings.
Lamouchi, who is no stranger to Amir Cup, yesterday said he is happy to be in Qatar again.
“I have been with Al Duhail for only two weeks but I know the importance of this match well for the players, the club and the fans,” Lamouchi, the former El Jaish coach, who finished as runner-up of the Amir Cup in 2015, said.
Al Duhail lost to Al Sadd 3-1 a week ago in their QNB Stars League Round 3 match but Lamouch was not concerned about the past result.
“We are only focusing on the semi-final now. Everyone knows the importance of the Amir Cup and we know our opponents well. The match will be difficult, but I think that we have a good chance of winning the match,” he stated.
“We learn important lessons from every match and we play whether it ends up with our victory or our loss. And I learnt many lessons from our match against Al Sadd and I found many positive things.”
Meanwhile, Xavi yesterday said he is aware of the capabilities of Al Duhail and admitted that the encounter will be a difficult affair for his side.
“The Amir Cup is a different competition. We are in the semi-finals and we consider this as a final against a strong and difficult Al Duhail team. We have faced them a lot and we will give our best, especially as they will look for revenge after losing to us last week in the league.”
“Our goal is to repeat the performance that we showed in the last ten days in the league. Our focus will be on attack and possession. We must play our way and I am happy with what the team has shown in the last two matches against Al Ahli and Al Duhail, which are among our best matches in the recent period.”
“Our ambition is to win the title. We are Al Sadd and we are one of the favourites to win the championship and we are preparing to face another favourite team, and we see this match as the final,” Xavi said.
Meanwhile, Al Sadd yesterday announced that their ‘goal machine’, Algerian striker Baghdad Bounedjah will be available for today’s match after his recovery from a knee injury, as Al Sadd will be looking to go full strength against the hosts in the all important semi-final.
Xavi has big guns in his arsenal, such as Pedro Miguel, Hassan Al Haydos, Nam Tae-hee, Tarek Salman, Khoukhi Boualem, Guilherme Torres, Rodrigo Tabata, Santi Cazorla, Abdelkarim Hassan and Akram Afif, but their reliable goalkeeper Saad Al Dosari remains unavailable.
