Season of high hopes fading fast for Baniyas

Club finding it difficult to live up to high pre-season expectations

Baniyas, in blue, are languishing in eighth place in the Arabian Gulf League. Mostafa Reda / Al Ittihad

ABU DHABI // A season that began ripe with promise for Baniyas has fallen flat.

They have won just two points from their past four Arabian Gulf League games and are eighth in the table, 13 points behind the leaders Al Ahli after 12 rounds. They are closer to the bottom – nine points – than the top.

They meet the second-place team Al Shabab at home on Thursday night and are desperate for a win to get their campaign back on track.

Jorge da Silva, the Baniyas coach, was upbeat despite the poor run.

“It is a crucial game for us because the situation we are in and the recent poor results,” he said.

“Our team has worked excellently throughout the week. We tried to do everything to prepare for this match and we hope the result will be in our favour. Shabab are a good side. We watched of their matches and know what to expect from them. They have quality in their attack and we will have an answer.”

Baniyas have been unable to field their best line-up for a majority of the games due to injuries or suspensions. Amer Abdulrahman, the UAE national team midfielder, has appeared in only three league games and is out for three months as he recovers from knee surgery.

However, Da Silva would not use continuous absences as an excuse for the team’s poor performance.

“Obviously, we would like to have our best line-up for every game, but we must cope with the injuries and suspensions, which are not unusual in football,” he said.

“Sometimes we lost because of mistakes and in some instances due to bad luck. We must not try to find excuses for these results but find solutions. We hope we can start fresh and with more motivation in this New Year’s game.”

Baniyas were unbeaten in their first five games, two in the league and three in the league cup.

They suffered their first defeat against Sharjah in the cup on November 6, followed by narrow losses to Al Nasr (4-3) and Ahli (3-2) in the league, and the club have continued to struggle to win points.

They were held 1-1 by Al Wasl in their last league game, and Da Silva cited squandered opportunities as the main cause. “We created several scoring chances but wasted most of them,” he said. “We have been working on it all week.”

Carlos Munoz, the Chile international, and Luis Farina, the Argentine, star in attack. Yet the players around them have not been fluent in combining with the m.

“We haven’t been able to play with the same combination for a long time, but they need to adapt and they have spent a lot of time playing with different combinations,” Da Silva said.

“It’s all about getting the final pass right and, hopefully, we can get that right on the night.”

5pm, Abu Dhabi Sports