Al Duhail First Football Team Head Coach Djamel Belmadi emphasized his full awareness of the difficulty of the upcoming match versus Umm Salal in the Doha Bank Stars League. He noted that the opponent’s current situation—sitting at the bottom of the table—combined with Al-Duhail own desire to win and close in on the top four, adds to the challenge.
Opening his remarks during the pre-match press conference, Belmadi stated: “This is another important match for us, especially coming after the Al Rayyan game where we didn’t secure a win. Therefore, winning this match has become a necessity. Facing teams going through difficult circumstances is often more challenging, which underscores the difficulty of our encounter with Umm Salal.”
Belmadi added: “Many things have changed within the club compared to my previous stints here. The club has changed and the players have changed. We need more time to build better harmony, reorganize, and create the right conditions for success once again. Since the start of the season, we have faced numerous difficulties regarding injuries. It began when we signed Tuta from Eintracht Frankfurt; he was our most important defensive reinforcement, but he suffered an injury after just one game and has been sidelined since, despite the high cost of his signing.”
Belmadi continued: “The difficulties persisted with the injury to team captain Al Moez Ali during the preseason while on national team duty, causing him to miss most of the season. Then came the injury to our primary goalkeeper, Salah Zakaria. Even the French goalkeeper we signed to cover for Salah was injured in his very first AFC Champions League Elite match.”
He elaborated further: “On top of that, Verratti was injured before the last game. He has suffered recurring injuries, missing half of our AFC Champions League matches. Let’s not forget Karim Boudiaf, who has been sidelined on multiple occasions this season. You only need to watch our matches to see that our bench consists of very young players from the reserve team. In Al Shahania match, for example, we had a large number of reserve players on the bench. These are circumstances I am experiencing for the first time in my coaching career. Even as a player, I never witnessed such a high number of influential absences among key players who directly impact the team’s performance. However, we must adapt to this reality.”
Belmadi concluded: “We must also take into account the arrival of a new coach for the opposing team. In such cases, there are always two possibilities: either a ‘psychological shock’ that pushes the players to give their best, or the new coach needing time—which he might not have—to understand the group and their capabilities. Therefore, this situation could be seen as a positive or negative factor for them; we cannot know for sure in advance. Ultimately, the most important thing for us is to focus on ourselves and work on delivering the performance required to win this match.
