Arabian Gulf League: Vuk Rasovic hoping for a bright opening with Al Wahda

After an agonising defeat in the cup, the new manager has high ambitions

Al Wahda manager Vuk Rasovic at the pre-match conference at the Al Nahyan stadium. Courtesy Al Wahda

Vuk Rasovic's Al Wahda team go into their Arabian Gulf League opener after learning a bitter lesson in last week's injury-time defeat by Al Wasl in the cup.

Wahda meet Hatta at the Al Nahyan Stadium after last season's competition was cancelled by the pandemic, and Rasovic was clear about the aim.

“We have been waiting for this moment for a long time, and the players and technical staff are looking forward for our first league game,” said the manager.

“We have been preparing to show our best football in this game and obviously to win the three points is very much our target.

“We lost the first leg of the cup game to an injury-time goal but I believe we learn more from a defeat than as much when you learn from a win. We are also going full strength for this.”

Wahda will be strengthened with the return of their Congolese striker Paul Mboko, who underwent knee surgery in Belgium in the summer.

Also returning to the squad from national duty are Mohammed Bargash, Faris Juma, Khamis Ismail and Tahnoun Al Zaabi.

Khalil Al Hammadi, the Wahda midfielder who suffered a thigh muscle spasm in UAE's 2-1 defeat to Uzbekistan in last week's friendly in Dubai, has been ruled out for two weeks.

“Mboko had a full work out on Tuesday and with the return of the national team players, I guess we are a stronger side,” Rasovic said.

“I know Hatta will come very hard at us. They can trouble any team if they are given space. I have seen that when I was at Dhafra. Of course, we’ll have our game plan and expect the players to carry that out on the pitch.

“We definitely need to improve from our cup game. We didn’t have the full squad for the Wasl game; still we’ll try not to repeat the mistakes we did against them."

Rasovic, who had a two-year spell at Dhafra before moving to the Al Nahyan stadium, was coy about title talk and will focus on the team’s progress.

“I really want to make some good results,” the Serb added. “It isn’t easy as I have been only a month with the team. But I have a pretty good squad and we’ll work towards in achieving our goals as the season progresses.”