Al Jazira boss Henk ten Cate has told his troops they must put their epic AFC Champions League progression to one side if Al Shabab are to be defeated today.
The Pride of Abu Dhabi’s domestic misery was forgotten on Tuesday as they saw off Xavi’s Al Sadd on penalties in a play-off to reach the group stages. They now go back to their Arabian Gulf League duties, where they are looking to climb away from the relegation zone.
“Al Jazira is going through a positive period,” the Dutchman said. “We want to maintain this situation and stay in winning ways.
“Now, we have to forget everything and concentrate fully on Al Shabab with the absolute same will, desire to win and fighting spirit which we had against Al Sadd.”
There are contrasting emotions with the hosts, who fell to a 2-0 play-off defeat to Uzbekistan’s Bunyodkor on the same day to drop out of Asia’s premier club competition. Caio Junior’s side have also slumped down the top-flight standings to seventh during a run of three defeats from their last four matches, but the Brazilian is not throwing in the towel.
He said: “Of course, we were not happy to go out of the ACL – our moment is not good but we have a strong game against Al Jazira.
“I have been in football for a long time but in this situation we need to give the maximum.”
Shabab’s cause has been further hampered by the unavilability of key foreign attackers Carlos Villanueva and Henrique Luvannor.
Meanwhile, Bani Yas boss Luis Garcia wants to make it a magnificent seventh match without defeat by seeing off Emirates Club.
He said: “Why not just keep winning and not losing for the seventh-straight match?
“The team is now concentrating to win the three points and then win the coming two matches against Al Jazira and Al Dhafra, so we can compete for fourth place.”ast eight appearances – beat goalkeeper Rashid Ahmed to the ball to memorably break the deadlock.
