Al Duhail SC face tough challenge against Al Arabi

Doha, Qatar: Al Duhail SC, looking to regain the Qatar Stars League title which they lost to Al Sadd last season, had to overcome the tough challenge of Qatar SC in the opening week and they have another tough challenge lined up in the form of Al Arabi.

Heimir Hallgrímsson-coached Arabi showed they are a team to watch with a convincing 3-1 win against Al Ahli and Duhail coach Rui Faria knows it's going to be challenging against the Reds.

“We face a tough task against a team that is well organised and has technical staff capable of doing a great job. They’ve players who can quickly reach the opponents’ goal. We’ll focus on what we can do on the pitch,” said Faria.

“The absence of some key players will affect any team and that’s what happened to us in our game against Qatar SC. The emergence of new players is definitely a positive sign, but that alone won’t compensate for seniors’ absence.

“We made good efforts and put up a strong performance. I was satisfied with the performance, but if we were able to score goals from the opportunities that we had, there would’ve been another scenario.

“Regarding striker Muhanad Ali, I would say that he’s under pressure, especially because he’s in media focus. He needs more time to adapt. He works well in training and I know he’ll soon settle into his stride,” said Faria.

Hallgrimsson said Duhail would pose a difficult challenge to his team.

“Our preparations were normal. The team is preparing for the entire season, not just for one game," said the Icelandic coach.

"I’m very happy with my players’ performance in the pre-season and also during our victory against Al Ahli in the first week.

“Al Duhail consist of outstanding players even though they didn’t start well this season. It’s going to be difficult challenge. For us, the most important thing is not to make mistakes that cause losses.

“For me, it’s important to play according to the team’s capabilities, we’ve good attacking players who deal well with high balls, so we used this technique in the previous game and and we succeeded in that,” said Hallgrimsson.

In the other match on Thursday, Al Wakrah take on Qatar SC.

On Friday, Al Khor play Umm Salal and Al Rayyan lock horns with Al Gharafa while on Saturday Al Ahli take on Al Sailiya and Al Sadd play Al Shahania.