During our Round 5 of Doha Bank Stars League pre-match press conference versus Umm Salal, Al Duhail First Football Team Head Coach Djamel Belmadi emphasized the importance of winning the upcoming match to regain the team balance.

Belmadi began his statement by saying: “Of course, the match versus Umm Salal is an important one in the league, just like all the other matches this season. We haven’t achieved a victory yet, which is strange and unusual for us. This isn’t good for me as a coach or for anyone else, and we have to change this as soon as possible.”

Belmadi added: “International breaks are always difficult, especially for teams with a large number of international players, which applies to us at Al Duhail due to the insufficient number of players to continue preparations. However, we tried to overcome this by working with the available players to increase cohesion in preparation for the upcoming official matches.”

Belmadi continued: “We have only scored one goal in our previous three league matches, which is a very weak indicator. In our last match versus Al Rayyan, we managed to create chances, but we couldn’t score due to a lack of effectiveness from everyone, not just the attacking line.”

Belmadi also stated: “We know Umm Salal is a good team, but against a team like Umm Salal, we must impose our style on them from the start, not the other way around. This way, we won’t lose control of the game and can get a positive result in the end.”

Belmadi concluded: “Following the injury of our Brazilian player Tuta and with the start of major competitions, especially the AFC Champions League Elite, we had to quickly sign a suitable player to compensate for Tuta’s absence. We found this in Abdo Diallo, who is a suitable addition to the team at this time.”