Much-needed win

THE 2-0 victory against Al Wakrah last week should give Al Gharafa coach Pedro Caixinha some much-needed boost. 

For Gharafa, who seemed to have lost their rhythm after losing a couple of close matches, the win was a huge relief. It helped the Cheetahs increase their tally to eight points and climb to seventh in the standings. 

Gharafa’s defence, which has been under a lot of pressure, regained its composure against Wakrah. 

“We’ve had problems in defence. We scored seven goals in the matches against Lekhwiya and Al Sadd alone, but managed to get just a point from those matches. After those unimpressive results, I gave special attention to the back-line. I’m happy my defence did well against Wakrah. It was an important win which, I’m sure, will motivate us to fight for a top-four place,” said Caixinia. 

Hungarian international Krisztian Nemeth opened the scoring in the 62nd minute while Slovakia forward Vladimir Weiss added the second from the spot in the 90th after Mohammed Arafah fouled South Korean midfielder Han Kook-Young. Arafah also received his second booking for the offence and was sent off. 

The win may have galvanised Gharafa, but Caixinha must make sure his defence maintain the same tenacity if they are to do well in the league. 

“We’re trying hard to improve after every match. We’ve a good set of players. We just need to click. Once we achieve that, we’ll be consistent,” added the Portuguese. 

Wakrah did well to hold their opponents goalless till the hour mark, before Nemeth found the gap. Defenders Ali Rehema and Arafah were good in patches, but they lost their focus when it mattered the most as Wakrah now find themselves at the bottom of the table. 

Wakrah, who have only managed one point from six matches, have a very difficult job at hand.