Al Bahri ready to go all the way in futsal
MOHAMMAD CONFIDENT TEAM CAN SOAK UP PRESSURE
Mohammad Abdessamad Mohammad, the 27-year-old French national team striker of Arab descent, sees his team Al Bahri going all the way through to win the futsal competition at the Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Sports Tournament.
In Saturday’s quarter-final, Mohammad — who plays alongside Kevin Ramirez Alonso and Essam Alla Shamkh with the Franck Ribery-funded French side ACESS Futsal Club — was pivotal in Al Bahri securing a comfortable 7-2 win over Sport 4 All. Al Bahri will now meet Dubai Police in the first semi-final to be played at the Nas Sports Complex late today.
Mohammad opened the scoring in the third minute to put Al Bahri in the lead and added a second a minute after teammate Ahmad Saleh Abdullah had doubled the lead midway through the first period. Hilal Abdullah Al Jabri made it 4-0, but Omar Juma Mohammad pulled one back for Sport 4 All just before half-time.
In the second period, skipper Ramirez slipped one in and Shamkh got a brace against his name to take Al Bahri way out of reach from Sport 4 All. Omar Juma scored a second for the Sharjah team, but it was way too late to stage a fightback as Al Bahri walked away winners and the right to challenge Dubai Police in the semi-finals.
“When we started the tournament, we had no idea how far we were capable of going. So if we are in the semi-final means we are here on merit because we are good enough as a team to be among the best four. And now that we are aware of this fact, we believe we can go all the way and even win the trophy,” Mohammad told Gulf News.
Carry the passion
“We are three players from the same team and that helps as well in sharing our values with the local players. We are fortunate to have Emiratis who play hard and who are passionate about the sport, and this is a bonus in itself. We believe we can go all the way,” he added.
Backed by Bayern Munich
midfielder Ribery, Mohammad has been one of the pivots for the rise of ACESS Futsal Club from Division 4 to the top rung. The highlight for the club was a surprising triumph in the French Futsal Cup at the end of last season. ACESS Futsal Club was established in 2009 on the outskirts of the small city of Caravelle in France with the aim of creating a positive dynamics through sport.
“We know what a team is all about back home in France. Now we want to impart these same values to players here,” Mohammad related.
“We will be at our best in the semi-final,” the lanky attacker promised.
In the earlier quarter-final, Brazilian Everton Cardoso struck a hat-trick, while Ahmad Hussain Ali and Ebrahim Khalid added one apiece to help Dubai Police score a 5-2 win over MKS.