#360view: Al Ain must avoid Olaroiu’s trap

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  • Zlatko Dalic must counter Cosmin Olarioiu's plans.

    If their previous meetings this season are anything to go by, Al Ain’s clash with Al Ahli will not live up to the maxims of the ‘Beautiful Game’.

    A pair of tetchy and controversy-ridden clashes have been played out already in 2014/15. The rancour means the Arabian Gulf League clash at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium tonight is not for the purists.

    Last Friday’s 1-0 Arabian Gulf Super Cup victory for the Red Knights and October’s 1-1 topflight draw both produced a slew of sizeable fines and suspensions from the outraged UAE Football Association’s Disciplinary Committee. Shameful incidents have abounded.

    This approach has suited stuttering treble holders Ahli perfectly. Their coach Cosmin Olaroiu has mastered the psychology of the bile-fuelled meetings against opponents he left to such resentment in summer 2013. AGL leaders Al Ain must not fall for similar disrupting tricks again.

    This could be a pivotal round in the title race, their four-point lead looking vulnerable as second-placed Al Jazira host basement club Ittihad Kalba on Friday.

    With only six top-flight matches left, the business end of the season has begun. Cool heads must prevail for the usually clinical Boss. They must not allow aggression and misbehaviour to sully this fixture again.

    Ahli goalkeeper Majed Nasser received a six-month ban – dismissed on appeal – for reportedly spitting at referee Yaqoub Qaseem Al Hammadi in the winter as the match exploded in injury time following a failed Carlos Munoz penalty appeal, while Boss attacking midfielder Mohamed Abdulrahman will serve a three-match suspension for shamefully barging into the same official last week when his team were correctly denied a spot-kick.

    The Red Knights players have not even been able to look to their coach for a positive example. Olaroiu has been sent to the stands in both games, receiving Dh40,000 in fines for his transgressions.

    The enmity has detracted from the action, each clash being endured rather than enjoyed. This has suited sixth-placed Ahli perfectly, a scorched earth policy desirable for their pragmatic Romanian boss.

    Reviewing the contrasting performance levels, it is clear that in a purely-footballing contest the Boss would prevail. Instead, Ahli have managed to get inside their rivals’ heads. This approach was evident at Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium last week.

    The Red Knights dropped deep in defence and looked to pounce on the counter-attack against misfiring opposition. Tireless defensive midfielders Majed Hassan and Kwon Kyung-won snapped at anything that moved, wingers Oussama Assaidi and Ismail Al Hammadi attempting to stretch the play on the counter-attack.

    It was this pressure that caused centre-back Salmeen Khamis’ winner, full-back Abdelaziz Sanqour delivering a perfect cross after robbing UAE team-mate Omar Abdulrahman deep in his own half.

    The playmaker’s rustiness and Asamoah Gyan’s restriction to a late substitutes role did not help, yet Al Ain have prevailed throughout a season in which their prized pair have suffered repeat injuries.

    They have usually found a way through before, why should an Ahli side resembling a pale shadow of last season’s vintage be any different?

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