AL SHABAB 3 AL WASL 0
Al Shabab - Essa Mohammed 44', Rashid Hassan 61', Edgar Bruno 69'
Man of the match - Hassan Ibrahim (Al Shabab)
DUBAI // Jorginho is confident he can turn around Al Wasl's flagging fortunes if he gets enough time and support from the club management.
Wasl suffered their third defeat in six matches this season Friday night, beaten 3-0 by Al Shabab in their Arabian Gulf Cup opener with Essa Mohammed putting the hosts ahead late in the first half before Rashid Hassan and Edgar Bruno added to the scoreline.
Jorginho’s men had plenty of opportunities, but Fabio Lima hit the post in the first half and Ederson was denied twice by the woodwork to sum up their night.
“Sometimes these things happen in football,” said the disappointed Wasl boss. “We are creating lots of chances but not scoring. Although we lost 3-0, we could have won this match.
“We played really good football in the first half and we should have been leading, but we conceded a goal and then could not find an equaliser.
“These things happen, but luck can change at any time. What we need to do is keep believing and keep working hard.”
The defeat will certainly add to the mounting pressure on the Wasl management. Angry fans have been calling on them to bring in Walter Zenga as coach, but Jorginho refused to talk about any possible threat to his future at the Zabeel club.
“As long as the management wants me, I am here,” he added, pointing out the need for time as Wasl have a virtually new team after singing 14 players during the summer.
“We have good players, but we need time to do well because we are a new team.
“I know sometimes in football there is no patience to wait, but this is something we need. If the management gives us time, are patient, I am confident we will get the results. As you could see, we played well tonight and could have won this match.
“Obviously we do not have the quality to fight for the championship at this moment, but we certainly have the quality to do a lot better than last season.”
Caio Junior, the Shabab coach, also conceded Wasl had caused them plenty of problems, but fortunately for the hosts they managed to draw first blood in the encounter.
“The first half was very difficult because Jorginho played with a different system and that created many problems for us,” he said.
“So it was very important for us to score first. If Wasl had scored first, I think it would have been very difficult to win for us.”
arizvi@thenational.ae
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