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Bani Yas draw inspiration from batch of 1991-92

ABU DHABI - Two decades is indeed a long wait. But it remains to be seen if that hunger can be translated to a trophy. Bani Yas head into the final of the prestigious President’s Cup at the Zayed Sports City on Monday night, aiming to repeat the success of 20 years ago. But standing in the way are experienced heavyweights Al Jazira.

Bani Yas last won the President’s Cup in the 1991-92 season. Things have changed between then and now but Bani Yas will be taking inspiration from that win as they look to snatch the Cup away from Al Jazira’s hands.

And Bani Yas coach Gabriel Calderon is hoping for a repeat.

“We want to repeat the same success we achieved 20 years ago,” Calderon said on Sunday.

“We have the power to achieve it. We will try to do our best to get a positive result on Monday although the match will not be easy because Al Jazira are a side with more experience,” said the Argentine.

Calderon said that their strategy would be attack from the word go but they would need to balance attack with defence against a team like Al Jazira.

“Our strategy will be to attack from the very beginning. But we respect Al Jazira as they are side to be reckoned with. But we too have many dependable players including Andre Senghor, Francisco Yeste and Fawzi Bashir. We have good players and a great mentality to go on and win,” he said.

Calderon admitted that Al Jazira had more experience and would be tagged the favourites. “Al Jazira have more experience. But we will do our best to challenge Al Jazira. Al Jazira know that we have a good team,” said Calderon.

He said that midfielder Ismael Bouzid and defender Yousef Jaber were back to fitness and took part in training. But a call on whether the duo will figure in the starting XI will be taken on match day.

james@khaleejtimes.com