Ferreira: Facing El-Jaish will be difficult, we have the motivation to win

Al-Sadd head coach Jesualdo Ferreira has stressed on the importance of his side’s upcoming Emir Cup semifinal clash against El-Jaish, which is set to be played on Sunday.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Ferreira said: “Facing El-Jaish will be difficult. Everyone knows we just played El-Jaish recently. Our matches are always well-fought. They have great players of high calibre. I was hoping not to face them because we have already done that many times this season. But our team is motivated to go for the win and overcome El-Jaish, who we’ve already defeated before. Our aim is to reach the final.”

Ferreira went on: “I wanted to win the league, although I don’t think our season will be bad if we don’t win the league. If we win the Emir Cup, it will be a successful season because it’s good to win two titles. But still, I was hoping to win the league title.”

As for Xavi and Hassan Al-Haydos being nominated for the Player of the Season award, the coach said: “I am grateful to those who selected these two players. I am very happy with this choice. Xavi is a player of the highest level and he won titles with Barcelona and Spain. Al-Haydos is one of the best players in Qatar and the Gulf. I will be very happy if the award went to either of these two.”

Ferreira went on to conclude: “Al-Sadd played against the big teams and got many points from them but unfortunately we lost points by drawing with lower ranked teams. I hope this doesn’t happen in the next season.”