Teixeira is surprised that the Al Wahda-Sharjah match was assigned to a Korean refereeing team

Al-Wahda team coach, Portuguese Dimas Teixeira, confirmed that his club’s management did not request that the match be assigned to a foreign refereeing team, and that its competitor, Sharjah, in turn, did not request that. He expressed his surprise at assigning the task of managing the match to the South Korean referee, Kim Jong-hyuk, in the match that brought together Al-Annabi and Al-Malik this evening, which ended in a 1-1 draw in the postponed match of the ninth round of the ADNOC Professional Football League.

Teixeira said in the press conference after the match, which was held at Al Nahyan Stadium and was witnessed by a crowd of no more than four thousand spectators: “I spent more than six months in the ADNOC Professional League, and until now I do not know the mechanism for selecting foreign referees for matches.”

He added: “Our team did not request a foreign referee, nor did Sharjah. We would have preferred that the match be managed by a local refereeing team because they do a wonderful job and have experience and capabilities, instead of bringing in a referee from a long distance from the Emirates. I do not understand the mechanism, but I respect it. However, I prefer local refereeing.”

The coach expressed his dissatisfaction with some of the referee’s decisions, and said: “He distributed yellow cards to us. Omar Khribin talked to him about a case and he received a warning, and the same thing happened to me.”

He continued: “In the workshop before the start of the season, we were informed that any pulling of the attacker’s shirt inside the penalty area is considered a violation and a penalty kick should be awarded. The laws must be talked about and they must be applied.”

Regarding the result of the tie, he said: “It was a difficult match. I previously said that there were five or six teams with similar performances. We were looking for the three points. In general, I am happy with what the team showed and we are preparing for the next match and our goal is to win.”

On the other hand, the coach of the Sharjah team, the Portuguese Jose Moraes, said: “It was a beautiful and competitive match, and I was happy because I watched the performance of the two teams. I am now on the Sharjah side and my team showed good organization, and the match was on a difficult field, and we came out with this result according to the standings.”

He added: “I am happy with the quality that the team showed. We look forward to preparing for the next match and seeing how we will develop, and we will play for the three points.”

As a result, Al Wahda raised its score to 25 points in second place, five points behind leaders Al Ain (30 points) before the upcoming “Abu Dhabi Clasico” next Saturday, while Al Sharjah raised its score to 11 points to advance to tenth place with a postponed match.