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IKOLI VICTOR
doha
With the business end of the QNB Stars League campaign now firmly in the foreground, it's fair to say it's tight at the bottom. Only two teams from 11th down looks to be involved in the scrap to avoid the drop in what promises to be one of the closest relegation shake-ups the QSL has seen.
Second from bottom club Markhiya will be hopeful coach Adel Sellimi progressive start to life, which has yielded three points from two league games, will continue and see them to safety when they take champions Al Duhail on Saturday. Kharaitiyat will hope for a positive result against Qatar SC to save their season after losing their four matches.
However, with Al Duhail already crowned champions, Markhiya may face a second string Red Knights side without international players in their ranks. An opportunity Markhiya may capitalise on to collect maximum points but Belmadi believes his home talents can still deliver the job in the absence of the international players.
"There are Qatari players who can do well in the absence of overseas recruits like Bassam al Rawi, Ismael Mohammed, Almoez Ali and Karim Boudiaf, which is good for the team, especially when you have more than a player with the national team," Belmadi said.
"Our match against Al Markhiya will not be easy, especially as the opponents will enter it in order to win and avoid relegation, but for us, it is a good opportunity. We need all the players to be ready for next month. We will play to win," he added.
Belmadi added that the current form of his players with four straight victories in the group stage of the AFC Champions League cannot be rivaled in the continent.
"Al Duhail are always present in the AFC Champions League and provide good performances. I do not think that there is an Asian team that has been able to win four consecutive games in the tournament. It is a remarkable work for the board of directors, the technical and medical staff and the players."
Al Markhiya coach Adel Sellimi said:"This is just like any other match. The only difference is that we are facing the new league champions, which makes it a very tough clash for us. We have to play according to our potential and take advantage of their weaknesses. We know that it is difficult to win the three points, but it is not impossible."
"As for our chances to reach the play-off match, I hope that our performance will help. But the destiny is in our hands taking into consideration that Al Kharaitiyat still has the superiority. Therefore, we will do our best to win one point from Al Duhail, which will be a positive result. First, we have to present a good performance and then we look for the result," Sellimi added.
Al Kharaitiyat coach Yasser Sebaei is hoping his team finds the luck that will see it win its next two matches."I am preparing the team in the best possible way. We had done well in many games, but did not get the desired results. We created opportunities time and again, but found ourselves at the receiving end.
"I hope we will be lucky in the last two games for a turnaround in our fortunes. Our goal is to stay in the league. We are really suffering from the many defeats we endured in the first phase. There were too many negative results. Despite dominating in some matches," he added.
