Al-Jazira are aiming to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Arabian Gulf Cup when they host Al-Nasr at 7:30 pm at Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium in the fifth round of Group B.
Al-Jazira won the fourth round away from Sharjah on one goal without a response, and reached the seventh point in the third place behind the eye and victory in the first two and two points by two points, and his victory today represents six points directly, ensuring his early qualification for the quarter-finals, To the top of the group in the event of eye failure today in front of Fujairah loss, or occupy the second place to say the least.
Al-Jazira is missing a large group of its main players, some of them with the national team in the camp currently in preparation for the delegations of Bolivia and Egypt in the preparation of the Asian Nations Championship, and others to injury, led by the team leader and goalkeeper Ali Khaseef and Khalafan Mubarak and Khalifa Al-Hammadi and Mohammed Al-Attas.
The match was the first under Dutch coach Damien Hertog, who took charge temporarily until a new manager was hired after coach and national coach Marcel Kaiser left for Sporting Lisbon.
Al-Jazira is expected to play in an aggressive manner from the start in the hope of scoring an early goal that will boost the morale of the players and make it difficult for the players to win.
On the other hand, the victory enters the game and is in second place with nine points equal to the eye of the leader and lagging behind the goal difference, did not play in the fourth round, but was the last game in the third round and won the Sharjah 3 goals without a response, and the team seeks to achieve Win to ensure his qualification also to the quarter-finals regardless of the results of the remaining matches.
For his part, confirmed the coach of the Dutch island Damian Hertog, that today's face of the special games for him and the team, especially that his presence on the seat of the manager is very different from being on the assistant coach's seat.
"The leadership of the meeting is not difficult, especially since I worked as a technical director, and certainly the thought will not change, not because I want to follow Kaiser's approach, but because we thought so closely, so we worked together here and in the Netherlands," he said at the pre-match press conference.
He said «victory from the strong teams that have a distinct group of players, so must be treated with caution, especially as there are some of the absence suffered by the island».
"The two teams are in short supply because of the international players joining the national team, but the absence of the island is more due to injury, which will make the task harder, but we are very confident of the ability of the island youth to compensate for the absences.