Ferreira: Important match; we’ll play with our first XI

Al-Sadd head coach Jesualdo Ferreira spoke of the importance of his side’s upcoming game against El-Jaish in the 26th and final round of the 2016-17 Qatar Stars League.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Ferreira said: “We have an important match ahead of us, against El-Jaish, who have a good run in the leagu. Despite the news of their merger with Lekhwiya, they will be looking to win.”

“Once again, I’d like to congratulate Lekhwiya on winning the league title. We seek a win against El-Jaish now so that we can end the league on a good note.”

The Portuguese coach went on to say: “We lost out on the league title when we lost to Lekhwiya in the second phase. We now have the Emir’s Cup and we need to win it so that we can get a direct spot in the AFC Champions League.”

Asked about the technical level of Qatari football, Ferreira said: “The technical level needs to be improved further, especially as Qatar is going to host the World Cup. The Qatar national team needs to develop through the improvement of its players’ levels. It is not easy to work on this particularly because of the small population. If the technical level imrpoves, the fan attendance will also improve.”

As for his self-evalutaion for the time he has spent at Al-Sadd, Ferreira said: “It is not easy when you work and not get titles at the end. Al-Sadd, Lekhwiya, Al-Rayyan and El-Jaish are all big teams in the league. Al-Sadd has only won the league once in the last 10 years. I am happy with what the team has delivered until now, especially with the young players who have done well with the club and have been called the national teams. We achieved a number of victories but we stuttered against lower-ranked teams. I am happy with my work but sad for losing the title. In the end, the Al-Sadd management are the ones who will evaluate my work. They know what difficulties the team went through, especially by going out of three tournaments on penalties.”

Ferreira went on to conclude by saying: “We will play against El-Jaish with our first XI and we will work very hard to win.”a