DUBAI // Hamdan Al Kamali has credited Al Wahda coach Javier Aguirre for his return to form and hopes he can guide the club to more success next season.
The former UAE national team captain enjoyed a fine 2015/16 campaign, featuring 20 times in the Arabian Gulf League as Wahda finished third, while he also played an integral role in the club’s march to the Arabian Gulf Cup crown.
Al Kamali’s consistency earned him a recall to the UAE squad for the King’s Cup in Thailand earlier this month.
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The central defender, who last month signed a new five-year deal with Wahda to keep him at the club until 2021, praised Aguirre for the turnaround. The Mexican excelled in his debut season in UAE football, so much so that in April he signed on for another year at the Al Nahyan Stadium.
Wahda have next year’s Asian Champions League to look forward to – they must first negotiate a play-off to reach the group stages – as well as attempting to improve on their domestic success.
With Aguirre in charge, Kamali is convinced Wahda have the right man to ensure they continue on an upward trajectory.
“All the people know about Aguirre and he helped me to be a very good player and helped me in training,” said Al Kamali, who put his poor injury record behind him last season to feature 27 times in all.
“This season I was injured only once. [The coaching staff] have a good relation with the coach of the national team and so they talked to him about me.
“Aguirre is a very important coach. He’s the best coach for Wahda at this moment. Hopefully in the next year we’ll play in the Champions League again and I’ll do all my best regarding the league and the President’s Cup.”
Al Kamali, 27, will look to use his experience to help Wahda’s crop of exciting youngsters next season, much like he did with an experimental UAE team at the King’s Cup two weeks ago.
“At Al Wahda I’m with all the young players, then when I come to the national team it is all younger players. This is good for me,” he said.
“Hopefully, I will help the players and also the club to be at the top.”
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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