ABU DHABI // Sami Al Jaber, the Al Wahda coach, is seeking a contract extension after leading his team to fourth in the Arabian Gulf League and a possible play-off berth in next year’s Asian Champions League.
“I am very happy to serve at Wahda and looking forward for the next season,” he said when asked about his future at the Abu Dhabi club after his team’s impressive 5-1 drubbing of Al Nasr in the final league game at Al Nahyan Stadium on Sunday.
“It is up to the club management to decide if they want me to continue or not but I will be more than happy to sign a contract extension. As I told when I first arrived here, it is a privilege for me to be in charge of a club like Wahda.
“However, it isn’t the right time to speak about a contract extension when we still have the President’s Cup to play for.
“I feel the team has done pretty well in the most recent matches and I am hopeful we can take this momentum forward to the cup competition.”
Wahda have won three of their last five league matches and drawn the other two against Al Ahli, last season’s league winners, and the current champions Al Ain to finish on 47 points, only two behind Al Shabab in third.
Wahda meet Division One club Dubai in their President’s Cup opener on Thursday and Al Jaber believes his team can go far in the competition.
“Obviously the focus is on the cup competition, which is our only chance to win a trophy,” said the former Saudi Arabia international.
“It is a knockout format and a completely different competition which means we must adopt a different strategy. We will take one game at a time and the focus is the game against Dubai.”
Al Jaber, 42, was hired until the end of the season with the possibility of an extended stay to 2016 after Wahda parted company with the Portuguese Jose Peseiro in February despite taking the club up to third in the league.
Amer Omar, the Wahda midfielder who is enjoying his best season at the club, said the team under Al Jaber has shown remarkable improvement.
“As players, we want to do our best to work under every coach. And success is for everyone from the team to the technical staff, and the club management and our fans,” he said.
“If you look at the results and the performances of our last five league games we have done extremely well.
“The 5-1 win over Nasr in our final league game was a big confidence booster. We now believe in our potential and hopefully can take this momentum forward to start our next campaign on a very positive note.”
apassela@thenational.ae
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