Hesham Zahed: Tough match ahead; Khalfan is a key player

Hesham Zahed: Tough match ahead; Khalfan is a key player
20 Nov 2015
​Hesham Zahed, assistant coach of the Al-Sadd team, has spoken about the importance of the upcoming match against Al-Kharaitiyat in Round 9 of the QSL, which will be played on Sunday evening at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium at Al-Sadd.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Zahed said: “A tough match lies ahead against a good team, whose results do not deceive us. But we will continue to give our best in order to get the win and the three points. It is a crucial match in our season as we seek to get closer to the top of the QSL.”

As for the comments around the possible departure of Khalfan Ibrahim, the Al-Sadd assistant coach said: “Khalfan is a Qatari star not only Al-Sadd. He is currently a key player in the setup, unless the management has another view. In the end, he is a huge star of Qatari football at Al-Sadd and personally, I hope he remains at the team because he is an excellent talent.”

Zahed also made it clear that some of the players who played with the national team have physical problems after playing on artifical pitches. As for Kasola, he is 90% fit and the Saturday session will confirm his status.

The assistant coach also said that predicting the champion is difficult. He added that despite Al-Sadd being in third place and not satisfying the fans, he thinks that this keeps the pressure away from us. “We look forward to playing without pressure. I am confident next season will be better for us.”

Zahid added: “We are trying to replaces the absence by rotating the players, for example, Abdulkarim Hassan has managed to fill the space left in central defence, especially in the absence of Ibrahim Majid and Lee Jung Soo.”