Absences and luck halted Al Jazeera’s progress in the “professional” leg.

The coach of the football team at Al Jazira Club, the Dutchman Marino Bosic, confirmed that influential absences were a major factor in the decline in the team’s results during some of the first-leg matches of the ADNOC Professional League, indicating that luck was also not on the side of “Pride of Abu Dhabi” in a number of important confrontations.

Pusic told Emirates Today that the team presented good levels in general during the first leg, adding: “I am satisfied with what we achieved in the first leg, especially since the team is witnessing continuous development in performance, and we would have been able to achieve better results had it not been for the circumstances imposed on us in important matches, which we played with influential absences, due to injuries or international connections.”

Al Jazira finished the first leg of the first round in fifth place with 21 points (six wins, three draws and four losses).

The Dutch coach explained: “Our performance has witnessed a clear improvement over the last two months, and we have succeeded in imposing ourselves among the leading teams, and this was clearly evident in our confrontations against the teams competing for the top spot, and I believe that our position in the standings would have been better if our roster had been complete in those matches.”

Regarding the contracting plans during the upcoming winter transfer period, Bosic said: “We are looking forward to concluding contracts that add the required value to the team, and although Al Jazira has distinctive elements that have imposed a strong presence on the field, the focus in the next stage will be on quality, and attracting players with a high level of competence, in keeping with the ambitions of the club’s fans, and helping us advance additional positions in the table, and enter strongly in the second half of the league, especially in matches against the leading teams.”

He continued: “We still have a large number of matches and points that we seek to win, and I am generally happy with the players’ performance, whether in training or matches, and with the continuous improvement in level, and I am proud of what the team presented during the past rounds.”

Disappointing loss

Pusic touched on the loss that Al-Jazira suffered against its host Al-Wasl with a free goal, the day before yesterday, at the opening of the 13th round of the professional league, saying: “Loss is always frustrating, but it is more cruel when it comes by conceding a goal in the last minutes, and based on what we presented throughout the two halves of the match, I think we did not deserve the loss.”

He added: “We were the better party and the one with the most control over the course of the game, and the two most dangerous chances in the match went to Al Jazira, but the Al Wasl goalkeeper excelled in stopping them. My biggest frustration is due to the loss of concentration in the last minutes, which cost us conceding the goal, and prevented us from getting a positive result.”