Portuguese coach Artur Jorge, head of Al-Rayyan, confirmed that his players are ready to face Al-Shamal in the second round of the Doha Bank Stars League. During the press conference held on the sidelines of the match, he stated: “We succeeded in achieving an important victory at the start of the league against Al-Sailiya, and Al-Shamal did the same. We must maintain our focus to continue our winning streak. We are happy with the victory over Al-Sailiya, but we need to keep improving and perform better in the upcoming match against Al-Shamal to secure the win. We worked this week to be better and to play with the same mentality and enthusiasm to earn the three points.”
Jorge revealed that all players are ready, saying: “This is our squad, and I have great confidence in them to deliver a strong performance and achieve victory in this important match.” He added: “We aim to be strong throughout the 90 minutes, but sometimes we need to push the players hard during halftime. I wasn’t satisfied with the performance in the first half, as it wasn’t the approach or mentality we started with. The positive thing is that we work all week to ensure the team is physically ready and maintains the same intensity for the full 90 minutes. Indeed, we sustained that intensity until we achieved the result we wanted and completed the match at the same level, which is the most important thing for us.”
The Portuguese coach also called on Al-Rayyan fans to attend the stadium to support the team, saying: “We saw their support in the first match, and we hope to see them again to help us secure the three points we aim for.”