DUBAI // Al Nasr coach Ivan Jovanovic is intent on breaking the club’s 25-year wait for a domestic trophy, but he warned his players to expect an exhausting evening when Baniyas visit Al Maktoum Stadium tomorrow in the Arabian Gulf Cup semi-final.
The Serbian manager lifted the regional GCC Champions League last season with Nasr, but the Dubai-based club remain without a national title since winning the Arabian Gulf Super Cup in 1990.
Jovanovic was a goalscoring midfielder playing in Greece back then, but last night he said that while he is proud of having ended the club’s barren spell, it is important the club also adds domestic honours.
“We know Al Nasr haven’t reached a final in a local competition for many years, so it is a great chance for all of us to end that wait,” he said.
“For this reason, you can be sure we are going to fight very hard to achieve this. The GCC Club Cup is not a domestic competition, but the feeling the players get when playing such games is the same.”
Such an assertion is difficult to accept considering the difference in crowds at the two competitions.
Nasr’s regional final with Omani side Saham in May was a sell-out with 12,000 fans cramming into the Maktoum Stadium, while the club’s most recent Arabian Gulf Cup group stage match, at Kalba, took place in an empty arena.
Brett Holman, Nasr’s Australian midfielder, performed a call to arms on social media yesterday. He asked his club’s supporters to turn out in their thousands, elaborating on the importance of playing in a packed stadium.
“It’s a great feeling for a football player to play in a stadium with a good atmosphere,” he said. “You saw it last year when we reached the GCC Club Cup final and had a full stadium. The players want to taste that again.
“It gives us a great feeling, and playing at home with that support gives you that little bit extra fight and pushes you to go that extra metre for the victory.”
Jovanovic suggested gaining home advantage this weekend was the primary reason the club had fought so hard to top their qualifying group in the first place, adding that he expects a tough semi-final.
“Baniyas are a team that are aggressive on the field, always plays at a high tempo and always try to get the ball forward and into the opponent’s box,” he said.
“I expect an open game, but one where our players will have to run a lot. We have worked very hard throughout the group stage though and we all want to be in the final. That is the goal.”
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
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