Today, Thursday, the eighth stage of the ADNOC Professional League will begin with two matches, after a 3-week hiatus, when Al Ain will host Al Orouba, while Khalid Bin Mohammed Stadium will witness a “derby” confrontation between Al Bataeh and its guest Khor Fakkan, led by citizen coach Abdul Majeed Al Nimr.
The eighth-placed Al Ain team (8 points from 5 matches) will arrive at 7:30 p.m., hosting Al-Orouba, runner-up Al-Qaa (3 points), at the beginning of a new era for the purple team under the leadership of Portuguese coach Jardim.
Al Ain had appointed Jardim, the former Al-Ahly youth coach, who won the League Cup two seasons ago, as technical director, succeeding the dismissed Argentine Hernan Crespo, after “Al-Zaeem” failed in the last two matches against Al-Wahda (1-2) and Dibba Al-Hisn (1-1).
The difficulty of the match lies in the limited time between the end of the internationals’ participation with their country’s teams and the whistle at the start of the match, which will force coach Al-Aynaoui to look for options from the bench.
As for Al-Orouba, he is looking forward to achieving a positive result against the champion of the yellow continent, in order to kill more than one bird with one stone.
The match between Al Bataeh
The match represents a turning point for the home team, especially after the series of negative results that the team suffered, finding itself on the verge of danger, despite the administration’s adherence so far to the services of Croatian coach Goran.
Amid these doubts, the coach realizes that the loss may complicate the task of continuing with the team, which is relying on the capabilities and effectiveness of top scorer Anatole, along with Olivera, at a time when the team will need defensive solidity in order to stop the number of goals being scored against it.
The guest, Khor Fakkan, will be fully prepared to leave the host stadium with a positive result, after the administration’s decision to appoint citizen coach Abdul Majeed Al-Nimr as successor coach to the Romanian Isaila.
The visiting team is looking forward to reaching the tenth point by betting on the abilities of Laurence, who will meet yesterday’s teammates, in addition to the presence of Henrique Matheus, who, along with his fellow countrymen, represents hope for the “Eagles” today.
Morocco
