ABU DHABI // Catalin Raducan, the Al Ahli assistant coach, has urged his side to build on Friday night’s morale-boosting Super Cup victory against Al Ain.
The UAE champions, mired in midtable in the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) and bottom of their group in the Asian Champions League, narrowly defeated their bitter rivals in the rescheduled clash at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium.
Salmeen Khamis provided the only goal of a poor encounter, which was brought to life only after the Ahli defender nodded home Abdulaziz Sanqour’s right-wing cross in the 86th minute.
Al Ain pushed forward for an equaliser but were soon after reduced to 10 men when Mohammed Abdulrahman received a straight red card for dissent.
The midfielder claimed Habib Fardan had used his hand to control the ball inside the Ahli area.
Cosmin Olaroiu, the Ahli coach, also saw red and watched the rest of the match in the stands.
Taking Olaroiu’s place in the post-match news conference, Raducan said the win was very welcome, but that it would count for little should Ahli not use it to turnaround their disappointing 2014/15 campaign.
“Winning the title today gives us positive energy; it was an important victory,” he said. “We hope this provides us more determination and enthusiasm for the next games.
“Lately, the players were suffering somewhat and so this will give us the motivation for the coming matches. We hope to continue in this way.
“We must use this victory going forward. This is the most important thing.”
Ahli's win was only their third in 11 matches in all competitions. Sixth in the AGL, they next face Al Ain, the league leaders, in a week's time.
Raducan denied the fiery finish to the game could affect the next match-up, but he said his side must recover both physically and mentally for the trip to the Garden City on April 2.
“Of course, when you play a cup final and score in the 86th minute, one team reacts and it fuels the flames of the players,” Raducan said. “It causes a fire. We’ll maybe have some fatigue, but the positive point is we have a game again against Al Ain after six or seven days.”
Meanwhile, Zlatko Dalic, the Al Ain coach, cut a visibly frustrated figure post-match, although he preferred to concentrate on the remainder of the season.
With a four-point lead at the top of the league table and perched at the summit of their Champions League group, Al Ain remain likely to conclude the campaign with silverware.
“The next game coming up against Ahli, this will be most important match for us,” Dalic said. “Today we lost, but we have to forget it and take only positive things from it, nothing negative. In my opinion, we played a good game, but sometimes you need luck, sometimes you need to make better decisions in the game. This is football; this is life. We must accept everything.
“We can be disappointed that we lost one game. We have many chances, many competitions. OK, we lost the Super Cup. Thanks to my team, who gave everything, but we have more to come.”
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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