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Al Ahli squad take on Dubai Club

Coach Olaroiu says Red Knights cannot afford to be complacent

Al Ain and Al Ahli during their goalless AFC Championship League match at the Rashid Stadium in Dubai on Wednesday. — KT file

Dubai: Cosmin Olaroiu has warned his Al Ahli squad not to look too far down the road on the pathway to President’s Cup glory ahead of Saturday’s quarterfinal clash at Dubai Club (Kick-off: 7:45pm).

Having already eliminated relegated Ittihad Kalba at the round-of-16 phase, the Red Knights head to the Division One outfit this evening knowing — should they ultimately progress — they’ll face either another relegated side in Ajman or perennial strugglers Al Dhafra in the last four.

Thus, Ahli may well reach the President’s Cup final early next month having not played a single team that finished above 11^th in the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) at this rate. However, with Dubai Club still smarting from their failure to gain promotion from the season just gone and coming in off the back of a seismic scalp against Al Wahda, Olaroiu is solely focused on clearing this third hurdle from the finish line down the straight.

“We don’t have to think about winning the cup; we have to think about winning against Dubai. That’s most important,” the club’s Romanian coach, 45, said.

“Life is about taking steps and we have to follow each step. If we start thinking about the final, we’ll lose our concentration for the next step, which is Dubai.

“When I saw Dubai’s games, especially the matches against (Division One runners-up) Al Shaab and Wahda, they deserve to be back in the Arabian Gulf League for sure with the way that they play.”

Dubai proved they’re more than capable of causing a stunning upset in the last round against the Clarets and the high temperatures at this time of year and Ahli’s end-of-season fixture congestion could yet prove a great leveller.

“With this heat and playing in these conditions every three days, if someone makes a mistake in the last 20 minutes, it (the game) is finished,” Olaroiu stated. “It’s difficult. It’s not necessarily the case that we’re the favourites because we have the reputation, the players, the coaching staff or whatever.

“Now, with this weather and the run of games that we’re having at the moment, we cannot afford to make any wrong steps.

“Regardless of whether we’re playing a bigger or smaller team, we have to do our very best and — if we do that — we have a chance.”

Ahli have endured a difficult campaign so far, with their defences of the AGL title and Arabian Gulf Cup having resulted in a seventh-place finish and an early exit at the group stages respectively.

Nonetheless, Olaroiu is full of praise for his players considering what they’ve had to contend with this term and they may yet secure some silverware at the end of it.

“They’ve done great things up until now and even more than that,” he added. “Considering the problems that we’ve had, especially this year, the players have done much more than everyone expected and I hope they can continue to do so from now on.”

alex@khaleejtimes.com