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Tribune News NetworkDohaYacine Brahimi will lead Al Gharafa’s line-up when they take on Al Wakrah in the second round of the QNB Stars League 2022-2023 season at the Khalifa International Stadium on Wednesday at 5.30pm.The Algerian star with 66 international caps joined the team from Al Rayyan on a special deal. Al Gharafa have also made a winning start to the league beating Al Sailiya 2-1 in the first round. Both Al Gharafa and Al Wakrah, who shocked last season’s runners-up Al Duhail first up, therefore start on an even keel and a strong and equal match and certainly one of the top attractions of this round awaits them.The Cheetahs’ (Al Gharafa) Italian coach coach Andrea Stramaccioni, however, feels his team needs to do better. “Al Wakrah are technically good with the presence of their distinguished coach (Marquez Lopez). They have Australian defender (Trent Sainsbury) who is also very good. Currently, I think we are required to do better than what we did against Al Sailiya in order to achieve a positive result. I think it will be a high-level match.“The team depends on young players, and we played against Al Sailiya with eight players under the age of 23 and we need some experienced players to lead the young players. “We promise to provide our best performance against Al Wakrah, and we always play the same way, whether against Al Sailiya or any team, which is 3-4-3.”For his part, Al Gharafa’s Algerian defender Mehdi Taherat, said: “We have a great opportunity in the match with the participation of Yacine Brahimi, who will help us with his great experience.”Al Wakrah, under Spanish coach Marquez Lopez, boast of outstanding players, especially Angolan Jacinto Dala, who scored a brace against Al Duhail. Expect The Blue Waves (Al Wakrah) to pose a bigger challenge to The Cheetahs.For the record, Al Wakrah had finished third on the table last season while Al Gharafa were fifth.Al Sailiya face Al Shamal in search of first winIn the other clash of the evening, Al Sailiya will meet Al Shamal at the Education City Stadium at 7.40pm.While Al Shamal will look to build on their good start they have had with an opening 1-0 win over Al Rayyan, Al Sailiya will aim to log their first three points, having lost 1-2 to Al Gharafa.Unlike the scoreline would suggest, Al Sailiya had a very challenging match against Al Gharafa in the first round. Their star Mohanad Ali made a strong impression and along with Giannis Fetfatzidis will look to make it good against Al Shamal.Al Sailiya coach Sami Trabelsi will also be aiming for his players to get a positive result having begun the hard work.“The problem we have is conceding goals and our defence lacks focus.God-willing, our problems will be less than last year and we hope to solve them quickly,” said Trabelsi.Al Shamal in contrast will be aware of Al Sailiya’s capabilities. Al Shamal coach Hicham Zahid, said, “Our players know their responsibilities and I thank them for their focus. Also the club’s fans who keep supporting the team and we await their presence in the next game.” .Al Shamal will have the force in Amjad Atwan, Yacine Bammou, Salmeen Atiq, Matias Nani, Loic Landre and Majed Mohammed.Al Sailiya are likely to rely on the same line-up that played against Al Gharafa, with Abdulqadir Ilyas, Sergio Vittor, Saeed Al Haj, Carlos Strandberg and Kara Mbodji joining forces with Mohanad Ali.
