Emir’s Cup: Al-Sadd conclude preparations for Al-Khor

The Al-Sadd football first team concluded their preparations for the upcoming Emir’s Cup quarterfinal against Al-Khor with a final training session at the club’s training facility on Wednesday evening.

The Wolves go into Thursday’s clash against Al-Khor as defending champions of the Emir’s Cup, after defeating Al-Rayyan 2-1 in last year’s final. Al-Sadd received a bye to the quarterfinal after finishing second in the league. The opponents Al-Khor reached the quarterfinal after a penalty shootout win over Al-Markhiya in the third round.

Wednesday’s training session saw the coaches implement physical drills and light technical exercises, which were followed by a practice mini game between the players.

Later, head coach Jesualdo Ferreira announced the 18-man matchday squad for the game, which is as follows: Saad Al-Dosari, Meshaal Barsham, Yasser Abubakar, Musab Kheder, Khoukhi Boualem, Pedro Miguel, Morteza Pouraliganji, Hamid Ismail, Hassan Al-Haydos, Abdelkarim Hassan, Ali Ferydoon, Ahmed Sayyar, Alaadeen Younes, Akram Afif, Salem Al-Hajri, Ghassan Waheed, Hassan Ahmed, Ahmed Suhail.

After the end of the session, the squad left for a closed camp at the Westin Hotel, where they will stay overnight before leaving for the match on Thursday.

Al-Sadd will miss four key players during Thursday’s match – Xavi Hernandez, Baghdad Bounedjah, Jugurtha Hamroun and Ali Asad. Xavi and Bounedjah have been suspended following the events of the Qatar Cup final against Al-Duhail while Ali Asad and Hamroun are injured.