Amouta: “Aiming for the title from the start; we need the 3 points”

Amouta: “Aiming for the title from the start; we need the 3 points”
12 Sep 2015
Hussein Amouta, head coach of the Al-Sadd football first team has spoken of the difficulty of the upcoming match against Mesaimeer in the Qatar Stars League first round. The match will take place at 6 PM on Sunday evening at the Grand Hamad Stadium.
During the pre-match press conference, which was held on Saturday morning at the Al-Bidaa Tower, Amouta said: “Our goal from the beginning is to compete for the title and my team needs three points as the first step. The match is important and Mesaimeer is a difficult team for us, especially as they are newly-promoted and there is not a lot of information about them.”
He continued saying: “The match will not be easy and it is difficult to predict its result, especially as our opponent may be adventurous; we must be wary of them and the players must be vigilant in defense and attack. Nobody forgets that we lost to Shahaniya last season and also drew with Al-Shamal.”
Amouta added: “It is difficult for any coach to prepare his team in the absence of eight international players but we have got used to these things. It is true that we stand with the national teams but we paid a heavy price for it in the past few seasons. As partners with the national teams, we do not prefer to complain about this matter, especially since the public interest is the most important. National team coach Carreño always communicates with us and gives us all the reports about the international players and their technical and physical conditions.”
And about the presence of Xavi, Amouta said: “I cannot say enough about his level as he is well-known as a global star but I will talk about his response to the Al-Sadd players; he is a new leader for the team. His goal and our goal is to compete for the league title, and I hope he gels well with the players on the pitch quickly to achieve all of what we seek.”
The Moroccan coach concluded his talk saying: “It is a very strong league this season and the return of Al-Rayyan will add to it, as well as many of the other teams such as Lekhwiya, El-Jaish, Al-Ahli and Qatar SC. We will have to be well-prepared to face all these challenges.”