Juma delighted with Jazira’s shootout win over old club

Matt Jones - Editor 00:15 31/05/2016
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  • Special win: Fares Juma celebrates Al Jazira’s President’s Cup win.

    The 27-year-old spent the first seven years of his professional career with the Boss and was part of three Arabian Gulf League title-winning sides.

    Juma also won one President’s Cup, one Arabian Gulf Cup and one Arabian Gulf Super Cup title with Al Ain, but has made more league appearances (22) in his debut season with the Pride of Abu Dhabi than in any of his previous seven in the Garden City.

    Jazira ended a barren spell without lifting a piece of silverware at Zayed Sports City on Sunday in thrilling fashion. Henk ten Cate’s men kept their nerve from 12 yards even after star striker Ali Mabkhout had seen his opening penalty of the shootout saved by Khalid Essa.

    Juma admitted that winning the title was special, especially against his former side.

    “I was at Al Ain and this was a final against Al Ain. Inside my heart I wanted to do my best against Al Ain and win the title,” said the centre-back, who also admitted he was able to supply his colleagues with information about their  opponents having previously played with them.

    “It was a challenge for me, a special challenge. I looked forward to playing against Al Ain after we beat Al Ahli (3-2 in the semi-final). It was more special for me than the other players. I knew their strong and weak points so I told my team-mates during the match.”

    Having capped his debut campaign at Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium with a title after joining last summer, Juma is now determined to replicate the sort of success he enjoyed with Al Ain at his new club.

    “I left Al Ain with many trophies and happy memories but I’m very much an Al Jazira player now and I want to win more,” said the UAE defender. Juma is also happy that Jazira were able to salvage something from what has been a largely disastrous season.

    “The season was very bad for Jazira and we did our best to win this trophy because it saved our season,” he added.

    “It was a really strong game. All the players did their best. We don’t want to talk about what happened in the past. Now we have won this trophy and we don’t want to talk about what happened before. We are looking forward to next season.

    “I want to do my best to win more titles with Al Jazira.”

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