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Coach Al Anbari finds winning combination for Sharjah

Sharjah - Al Wasl remain in fifth position with 15 points and Sharjah climbed one position from the lowly 13th they occupied before the game on Friday night.

 Friday night saw home side Sharjah, thanks to Wanderley Santos's brace, combining superbly for once this season when they overcame strong Al Wasl 2-1 in the 10th round of the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) soccer championship.
Al Wasl remain in fifth position with 15 points and Sharjah climbed one position from the lowly 13th they occupied before the game on Friday night. With eight points earned, Sharjah are above Al Dhafra and Al Shaab who have six and two points respectively in the 14-team championship.
Like their neighbours Al Shaab in the emirate, 'The King' (Sharjah Club) has been plagued with on and off the field problems since the start to the season, and are depending on former Sharjah player Abdulaziz Al Anbari after he took over as interim coach following Brazilian Paulo Bonamigo's ouster. The foreign trainer mutually agreed to exit the club on Monday when his side looked like 'permanently' remaining in the relegation zone this season.
Al Anbari's first game against Al Dhafra ended in a frustrating goalless stalemate but the quick thinking former 'King' star kept his composure and did not speak to anyone elaborately about Sharjah's 'survival' issues.
Unity will be the key to overcoming Sharjah's current difficult situation, Al Anbari told the media. "After the Al Dhafra match, which was not a satisfactory result for us and didn't serve either team, the players have been very enthusiastic in training and everyone understands the sensitivity of our position. Now we have three points from tonight's (Friday) encounter against strong Al Wasl. A good sign for our comeback path. We did not make big changes to our game and kept the ball closer than usual with quick one touch short passes. We are all very optimistic about working together to turn things around," he said.
Al Wasl coach Gabriel Calderon coach warned his players that taking things complacent against Sharjah would be costly and said before the match about the skills and abilities of the opponents' forwards led by Wanderley.
"The biggest mental barrier for us now is the fact that we are in the reckoning after 10 rounds and we slipped tonight (Friday) after sitting 1-0 at half time. We did not bag the three points we came after. We should just be aiming for stability and consistency of good results, otherwise lying in fifth position is of no point," Calderon said.
moni@khaleejtimes.com