Walter Zenga talks up offensive football

Al Jazira coach Walter Zenga addresses the media. — KT photo by Nezar Balout

After a musical chair of coaches, Al Jazira finally found their man in Walter Zenga. And the Italian, their fifth coach since 2011, has instilled a fighting mentality at the club. The former Italian goalkeeper, who replaced Spaniard Luis Milla, has endeared himself to the Al Jazira faithful with some fine, attacking football, not seen since the days of Abel Braga.

Never one to mince words, Zenga talked up offensive football on the eve of a date with his former club Al Ain. Al Jazira take on Al Ain in a mouth-watering first leg of the AFC Champions League Round of 16 at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium on Tuesday night.

And Zenga said that they would go all-out to ensure that they are in a good position when they travel to Al Ain for the return leg.

“My team is not a team that defends. My team is a team which tries to attack. I have never seen my team play in a defensive way,” Zenga said at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium on Monday.

“Both the teams are capable of scoring a lot of goals but also concede goals. So, it is an open game. We want to play offensive all the time. Every time we play, we play offensively and that’s what I have done at the club,” he added.

To reiterate that, he pointed out youngster Ahmed Rabia Al Ghilani, who has grown into a fine striker. “We are proud that Ahmed Rabia (Al Ghilani) is in the UAE National team. And Ahmed Rabia is not a defender, he is a striker,” Zenga said of the 18-year-old, who has been called up to the UAE squad by coach Mahdi Ali. Despite trying to go one-up over Al Ain in the psychological battle, Zenga mixed aggression with the right amount of caution by saying that the battle would be won over 180 minutes.

“It is the first leg and then there is the second leg in Al Ain. In such kind of games, it is about how you probably play over the 180 minutes. It is a balanced game between two good and very strong teams,” Zenga said. He added that he would have liked to meet Al Ain in the quarterfinals and not in the Round of 16. “Honestly, I would have preferred to meet them in the next round but that’s life. My wish was to see that the UAE have two teams in the last eight of the AFC Champions League,” added Zenga.

Al Jazira were held to a 2-2 draw in a Arabian Gulf League fixture where they rested some of the regulars and gave their bench strength a run. But Zenga repeated yet again that he viewed both games differently. “Both are different games. The League is different and the AFC Champions League is different. I know, for Al Ain, it is an important day tomorrow because they have a very busy schedule. They play the President’s Cup final and a friendly game against Manchester City. It is a tough game. Probably, they would be looking to finish off things tomorrow. But we are thinking about ourselves and we want to beat them to go to the next round,” he said.

Meanwhile, defender Ismail Al Jasmi said it would be tough against the likes of Asamoah Gyan and Omar Abdulrahman but said that they have the advantage because they are playing at home.

“As players, we know that it will be a very difficult game against a very strong team like Al Ain because we know that they have very dangerous players like (Asamoah) Gyan and Amoory (Omar Abdulrahman). We have to concentrate 100 percent for the full match. We believe that we have an advantage because we are playing at home. We want the fans to be there to support us,” said Al Jasmi.