Al Jazira cap title-winning season with Arabian Gulf League record 22nd victory

Al Jazira players Ali Mabkhout and Yaqoub Al Hosani celebrate during their 4-0 win over Al Dhafra on May 12, 2017. Al Ittihad photo

Al Jazira 4 Al Dhafra 0

ABU DHABI // Moments after Al Jazira ended their Arabian Gulf League season on a high with a 4-0 win over Al Dhafra last night, manager Henk ten Cate left his future at the club in doubt.

Ten Cate said he “needs to think” about whether to continue at Jazira, despite assurances from Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamdan, chairman of the Al Jazira Football Company, that the Dutchman will stay put.

“I came here for six months. Now it’s already 18 months,” Ten Cate said shortly after their final game at Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium. “I don’t know if I want to continue as I’m coming to the end of my coaching career. We need to discuss things like this.”

The Dutchman revealed he had intended to stop coaching until Butti Al Qubaisi, a member of the club’s board of directors approached him last year.

“He’s been a long-time friend of mine and he was the man who got this team together,” he said. “It was he who insisted I stay after we won the President’s Cup. I’m not sure if I want to extend my stay again. I need to speak with my family and then decide.”

Ten Cate, however, was gushing in his tribute to the club he took over midway through 2015/16.

“It’s been a fantastic club to work with and now that they have a possibility of playing in the Club World Cup in December,” he said. “It’s a very big event and telecast all over the world, and if Jazira makes it, they will be watched by hundreds of millions of people.”

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Read more: Henk ten Cate dedicates AGL title to Al Jazira 'family' and kit-men in particular

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Ten Cate also said there was room for improvement and that the team were only playing 80-85 per cent of their potential.

“I think winning the AGL is the beginning of something nice for Jazira,” he said, before talking about the importance of growing the squad from within rather than from outside.

“The path we need to be following is to bring players from the academy,” Ten Cate said. “This season we had around five of them playing regularly. I think this is the pathway Jazira need to take and I think the club is on the right track on this. We can’t keep buying and buying players.

“The money that the UAE clubs are prepared to spend is not enough. We need to educate the young players in the country. Educating them must be the slogan. Not only for us but for the clubs all over the Emirates.”

Jazira’s celebration on the night was matched by a record-breaking performance on the pitch.

With the win, they became the first team to win 22 AGL matches since the league turned professional in 2008.

Jazira had the game firmly under control after finding the net three times in the first half, through Ali Mabkhout, Khalfan Mubarak and the Moroccan international Mbark Boussoufa.

Mabkhout, 26, added a second to his name after the break to take his tally to 33, the highest in the professional era. He broke the record previously held by Al Ghanaian striker Asamoah Gyan for Al Ain in 2012/13.

The UAE international also reached a personal milestone of 100 league goals in 154 games.

“We finished the season in style by breaking a record,” Ten Cate said. “I’m really pleased with the way it went.

“To be honest, it was a different emotion, for me at least. After the Hatta game [a win that clinched them the league title, with three games to space], I was excited but we didn’t celebrate,” he said.

“And tonight, we celebrated even though we won the league two weeks ago. It was a very special day for Jazira.

“This is not my championship. It’s our championship because every individual in this team did their part to win this title.”

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