The UAE midfielder gives John McAuley his thoughts on last season, Al Ahli’s hunt for a striker, and their fine end-of-season form that resulted in a passage to the Asian Champions League quarter-finals.
On the importance of Al Ahli recruiting a top-class striker:
“Until now, Ribeiro and Kwon are going to stay, that’s what I heard. Still we need to bring two foreign players. I’m sure they will bring the good players who will help us do something good in the championship.”
On Al Ahli’s struggles to replace Grafite:
“I didn’t play with him a lot but he was more like a brother for all the players. He was such a great player, he gave the team great confidence when he was playing. It’s hard to find somebody like Grafite, but we may get somebody who helps the team a lot and who might do something well for the team.
“Each player has his impact on the team. We can’t say only the striker affects the position of the team because we are 11 players and always the team doesn’t depend on one player. But we lost a great attacker in Grafite and we hope that the next foreign player will be as a good as him.”
On Cosmin Olaroiu staying at Al Ahli:
“It’s important because at the end of the season many clubs wanted to sign Cosmin and this created some confusion in the team, because everybody wants Cosmin to stay. But now after he signed until 2018 there will be a great feeling for all the players because he’s a great coach.”
On Al Ahli’s Champions League opponents Naft Tehran:
“We will not find any easy game in this round of the ACL, but I think we have a great opportunity to reach the semi-final. Naft Tehran are a great team, we know that, but we have a great opportunity to pass them and reach the semi-final.”
“I watched the games (against Al Ain in the group stage). They are a good team, organised, and have good players. Of course, the game will be hard but we have a great opportunity and we should take it this time. We’ve reached a good round in the ACL and if we reach the semi-finals then it will be great for Al Ahli because it was the first time we qualified in our history.”
On Al Ahli’s end-of-season form:
“Most of the players get great confidence after they reached this stage of the ACL. This is a great push for this season to train hard to reach something more, because if you play only in the league and the UAE cups, you always play against the same teams.
“In the ACL it’s different — you play against teams from different countries and get great experiences from these games. It’s a great opportunity and we’ve got some much confidence.”
Habib Fardan was speaking at a preview of the Adidas Football Bunker at Dubai Sports World.
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Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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