Al-Habsi returns to Wembley in form of his life and with ice in his veins
Reading goalkeeper tells Jim White he is out to make amends after his agony in the 2013 FA Cup final
As their team approach the world’s most valuable football match, the Championship play-off final, it is a matter of considerable reassurance to Reading fans that their goalkeeper is in the form of his life. For the second season running, Ali Al-Habsi has been named the Royals’ player of the season. Which, the man himself is quick to point out, is a somewhat unexpected accolade.
“It’s a real achievement for me,” he says. “When the team is doing well, as a goalkeeper there is only a small chance of winning player of the year. Because usually the goalie is the star man only when the team is doing badly.” But anyone who saw the keeper’s performance against Fulham in the play-off semi-final would be hard pressed to argue with the proposition that, whatever the consistency of their form this season, Reading are only at Wembley tomorrow because of him. Some of the saves he pulled off to deny the Londoners defied physics.
“Yes, I think it’s my best season this year,” the 35-year-old (right) suggests. “I feel really, really good. So happy, so pleased. And the best is yet to come.” It is not just in Reading that his form has been noted. When he has returned to his home country of Oman to play for the national team, of which he is captain, he has noticed a growing number of blue and white hooped shirts on the streets.
“Reading is very big in Oman,” he smiles. “Not just in Oman, across the whole Middle East they follow me. I am the only player from the Middle East in England. I’m sure back home thousands and thousands of people will watch this game.
And if we get in the Premier League, it will be even bigger.”
Standing in the way of such riches is a Huddersfield team with whom Reading shared two close league fixtures, winning one apiece. For Al Habsi, the return to Wembley will bring back mixed emotions. In 2013, Wigan got there in the FA Cup. He was injured in the semi and watched the final from the bench. “As a player you are disappointed not to play in the final. But I knew I was not 100 per cent fit,” he says. “And after a few years, finally I am going to play there. And I think for the football club this game is even bigger. As a player, to win the FA Cup is amazing. But to be in the Premier League, the money, this is really big.”
After the long struggle with a shoulder problem that followed his FA Cup disappointment, he is pleased he is returning to the national stadium in such good shape. He puts his career-topping form down to two things: his growing experience and the arrival at the Madejski Stadium last summer of the new manager, Jaap Stam.
“Incredible,” is how he sums up the Dutchman’s influence. “The way he speaks with the players, from the start you see he believes in us.” Stam’s arrival meant a substantial change in AlHabsi’s role. He was brought to the club from Wigan by the previous manager Brian McDermott and charged with the task of getting the ball forward as quickly as possible. His distance kicking became phenomenal. Under Stam he has been encouraged to roll the ball out to the nearest colleague, to initiate the possession game the manager insists the team embrace.
“The way he wants us to play is something different, we play from the goalkeeper, so I have a new job,” he says. “Many try to play like that, but they don’t always succeed. To play this way, you have to be certain, you have to be confident. And he gives us the confidence.” And Al-Habsi’s confidence stretches beyond simply dinking a pass to his full-back. When it comes to saving penalties, he has one of the best current records in the game. Which could be the most vital asset should the estimated £150million play-off prize be decided by a the 12-yard lottery. “I want us to finish in the 90 minutes with a win,” he says when asked if he secretly hoped he might have the chance to star in a shoot-out. “But if it goes to penalties we have to be ready. We have confident players who can score. And I will hopefully save some.”
Al-Habsi says he has no secret when facing a penalty. “I try to put my concentration on the player, look at how he is feeling, look into his eyes,” he says. “When they run up I decide to go one way, I never change my mind. I study penalty-takers. I have studied the Huddersfield shoot-out against Sheffield Wednesday [in the play-off semi]. I remember how they take penalties. You can prepare, but it comes down to what happens on the day.”
At that, Al-Habsi smiles and heads off to the club’s Cryotherapy pod, to be sprayed with freezing gas, something he says he does after every training session to aid recovery. Which may explain why, when faced with a penalty, he appears to be a goalkeeper with ice in his veins.