Younes Ali: League victory over Al Rayyan gave us confidence, but facing Al Sadd requires a lot of work

Yousef Muftah: The team is improving after each match, our goal is to win a championship and make our fans happy

Al Arabi coach Younes Ali and player Yousef Muftah spoke to the media ahead of their Qatar Cup 2023 semifinal against Al Sadd, to be played at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium of Al Sadd club on Thursday, February 9.

Younes Ali said, “The presence of the four teams in one tournament makes it very challenging and especially when all teams are in good form. It indicates that all matches will be difficult and I hope we will be able to present our best level and produce a good performance.

“Al Arabi have goals since last season and we are on the right path to reach these goals. The Qatar Cup matches have a special style. Al Sadd and Al Duhail have distinguished themselves from the rest of the teams in recent years and regardless of their stature, we are primarily concerned with our results and the strategy we would follow. It is our first goal.

“It will be an equal match and the team which is more focused and determined will have greater chances of winning and reaching the final. We need to focus and work hard to achieve that.

“Only Abdulaziz Al Ansari is absent and the rest of the players are ready for the match.

“Our recent victory over Al Rayyan in the QNB Stars League gave us great confidence, but the match against Al Sadd in the Qatar Cup will be different.

“Al Arabi fans have always been supportive of us and I hope that they will attend in abundance as they did in the match against Al Rayyan. We promise to provide them with our best during the match to score victory and qualify for the final.”

Yousef Muftah said, “We are preparing strongly with the aim of reaching the final.

“The team has been improving from one match to another and our goal is to win a championship and make Al Arabi fans happy. We are on the right path to achieve this.”