The Portuguese coach Arthur Jorge of Al-Rayyan confirmed that the team is ready for the match against Al-Wakrah in the eighth round of the Doha Bank Stars League. During the press conference held on the sidelines of this match, he said: “We are happy with the league’s return after a long break, and we are delighted to play in the most important tournament for us. We will face Al-Wakrah with full concentration and give our best to achieve victory.”
Regarding playing three consecutive important matches, Arthur said: “We are in a good position because we prepared for more than one match. We know the importance of facing them despite the different opponents, but now our focus is only on the Al-Wakrah match, as it is the most important for us at the moment. It would be a mistake to think about all the matches together. We must work in the same way we have been doing since the start of the season, which is to face any opponent with the same approach and preparation. But the thinking now is only on this match. We know Al-Wakrah well, and we worked a lot during the previous period to be ready for this confrontation.”
He added: “We play all tournaments in the same way. We respect all the competitions we participate in. In the QSL Cup, we could have fielded the under-23 or under-19 team players, but we are here to do our job and play all tournaments with the same seriousness and approach. Therefore, we played the QSL Cup matches during the international break with the same first-team players because we have a wonderful group of players who love competition. Of course, I would have preferred to play against Al-Shahania after the international break because we prepared throughout the previous period to face Al-Shahania. We have to accept such changes in the tournament schedule. We preferred to face Al-Shahania, but in the end, we played a QSL Cup match, and we are here to play all tournaments with the same seriousness and competitive spirit.”