Al Wahda coach Reghecampf looks at positives

Al Wahda, out of the Arab Club Championship, take on Group A leaders Al Faisaly at the Al Salam Stadium in Cairo later on Friday.

And coach Laurentiu Reghecampf is confident of a good show. He chose to count positives from the two losses to Egyptian side Al Ahly and Algeria's NA Hussein Dey. The Romanian praised goalkeeper Mohammed Al Shamsi's performance.

"Al Shamsi is one of the most important gains made by the team from these matches, especially in his first appearance with the team," the coach said.

The defence, too, held strong against Al Ahly's barrage of attacks.

And Reghecampf said he was satisfied with the performance of the team despite the absence of key players.

"Loss of Hamdan Al Kamali (to injury) and Khalil Ibrahim (red card) weakened our ability to stage a comeback into the match. Despite the numerical disadvantage, the players put up a good show."

Al Wahda attack will be boosted by the return of striker Sebastian Tagliabue, who was out with a red card in the first match against NA Hussein Dey.

The coach said despite poor results there was no pressure on the players.

"Our main goal is strong cohesion between players. We are using such matches against strong teams as a means to achieve desired benefits. Our goals are different from our competitors in the tournament," he said reiterating on the aspects of preparing for the Arabian Gulf League.

Reghecampf said such matches were good experience for players.

"We will continue to prepare hard for the season ahead. We will have a camp in Austria for players to be in best physical shape."

Al Wahda will use Friday match as yet another practice match but with an aim to eke out a result. They are bottom of the table but also remain without points. Al Wahda will miss service of Khalil Ibrahim against Al Faisaly - a team that remain unbeaten in this tournament.

Source: Khaleej Times