PRO LEAGUE COMMITTEE CELEBRATES SAUDI ARABIA’S NATIONAL DAY AT ALL AGL MATCHES
he Bani Yas boss, Pablo Repetto, will accept nothing less than victory against Dibba in today’s home Arabian Gulf League match after losing his two first domestic games of the new season.
Dibba downed the Sky Blues 3-2 earlier this month in the Arabian Gulf Cup, while Repetto’s side were unfortunate to lose 1-0 away to Al Ain in their AGL opener last Sunday following a battling display.
Repetto, who is in his first season in the UAE after joining from Ecuador’s Independiente del Valle, is desperate for redemption and revenge today.
“We have to win this match against a club who already won against us a couple of weeks ago,” he told a pre-match press conference. “We have prepared good this time to get the victory with different players this time as we have all our international players available and we have no absences for the first time in the season.”
Repetto was pleased with the performance against Al Ain, but is determined to eradicate “individual mistakes and a lack of concentration” against Dibba, who lost to Kalba 1-0 at home in their first match.
The 42-year-old Uruguayan, who replaced Abdullah Misfir in July, has been striving to complete his four-player foreign quota this week and was hopeful of achieving this before the Dibba game.
Repetto has been left with only three overseas players as Ishak Belfodil, the Algerian striker who signed in July 2015, requested his two-year contract be terminated this summer so he could return to Europe.
The former Lyon, Parma and Inter Milan forward joined Belgium’s Standard Liege last month, leaving Bani Yas one foreign player short. The Abu Dhabi club currently employ only Mark Milligan, Fellipe Bastos and Joaquin Larrivey.
“Of course, we are still missing one foreign player, and playing with only three, which is difficult,” Repetto said. “We are doing our best to sign a new player, with the deal to be completed by the management.”
Elsewhere, Al Wasl and Al Dhafra will also be looking to recover from losing starts when they meet at the Zabeel Stadium in today’s evening match.
Al Wasl beaten
Al Wasl were thumped 3-1 away by Al Jazira, while Al Dhafra were beaten 4-2 at home by Al Nasr.
Yesterday, Al Shabab made it two wins out of two with a 2-1 away victory at Kalba thanks to goals from Tomas De Vincenti and Ruud Boijmans.
And the team that Al Shabab defeated last week, Sharjah, rebounded with an emphatic 4-0 home win over newly promoted Hatta.
The week, club’s new signing this the South Korean midfielder Song Jin-hyung, made a dream debut with the first goal after only four minutes.
Jamal Maroof (22), Muhain Khalifa (66) and Adrian Mierzejewski (90+2) completed the rout.
In yesterday’s late match, Abu Dhabi rivals Al Wahda and Al Jazira were due to clash at the Al Nahyan Stadium.
Meanwhile, the UAE’s Pro League Committee is celebrating the National Day of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which fell yesterday, throughout Round 2 of the Arabian Gulf League from Thursday to Saturday.
Messages of congratulations are being displayed on the LED perimeter boards in all stadiums and players and referees are wearing T-shirts with congratulatory motifs to mark the 86th National Day of the unification of Saudi Arabia before kick-off at all matches.