Cosmin Olaroiu wary of Fujairah

Dubai - Al Ahli coach warns team against complacency in opening-day outing tonight

Cosmin Olaroiu has warned his Al Ahli squad not to underestimate the threat posed by visitors Fujairah as they look to get their Arabian Gulf League (AGL) season off to a winning start at Rashid Stadium tonight (Wednesday, Kick-off: 7:30pm).
The Red Knights have arguably been handed a favourable home draw first up against Ivan Hasek's men, whom they convincingly beat 4-0 at the very same venue back in March.
However, that game was apparently harder than the one-sided result would suggest and their two other tussles last term were tighter - Ahli prevailed 2-0 in the Arabian Gulf Cup in January, whereas Fujairah held the then-reigning AGL champions to a 1-1 draw at home last October.
"We have to concentrate for the first game against Fujairah," said Ahli's Romanian coach at the pre-match press conference.
"It's not easy. We had difficult games with them last season, especially in the first round. They're a tough team and they've changed some of their international players.
"We have to respect them, but - of course, most importantly - we have to start the season with three points."
A brisk beginning would bolster belief in the camp ahead of the first leg of their Asian Champions League (ACL) quarterfinal with Naft Tehran in the Iranian capital next Wednesday as well. 
"It's very important for us that we can play a game before the Champions League match," Olaroiu admitted. 
"We were supposed to have more, but - unfortunately - it's impossible here to start the season earlier."
Olaroiu understandably didn't want to dwell on prior events over the past 12 months. Ahli had only the Arabian Gulf Super Cup to show for all of their energetic efforts in 2014/2015 when they'd come agonisingly close to a domestic clean sweep in the previous campaign.
Nonetheless, the fact Ahli were the eventual runners-up in the President's Cup and are still in the knockout stages of the continent's elite-level competition would imply it still wasn't all that bad after all.
"We played in the final of the President's Cup and we qualified through to the Champions League quarterfinals," the 46-year-old explained.
"We obtained the most important target that we had and that has given us a lot of hope for this season.
"When you're at Al Ahli, you have to win each game and every competition and we know that. I'm very confident that this season will be different from last year in terms of the domestic competition."
According to the coach there could be one or two surprise contenders that spring up and challenge the usual suspects for the crown this season.
Al Ain, the Red Knights and Al Wahda have invariably emerged victorious in the top flight since the turn of the century, with 13 titles between them (Al Ain: Seven, Al Ahli: Three, Al Wahda: Three) out of the 16 on offer.
Only Al Wasl (2006-2007), Al Shabab (2007-2008) and Al Jazira (2010-2011) have managed to prevail outright in the anomaly years that one of the aforementioned three clubs did not over a decade and a half period.
It is little wonder then that Ahli, the Boss and the Clarets are firm favourites to be vying for supremacy at the business end of this campaign, along with the runners-up from last term in Jazira.
However, Olaroiu believes Bani Yas and Al Nasr could well keep pace in the title race after a summer of squad strengthening at the Sky Blues and the Blue Wave respectively.
Bani Yas have signed Algerian forward Ishak Belfodil, Argentinian striker Joaquin Larrivey and Australian midfielder Mark Milligan during the close season, whereas domestic cup double winners Nasr have bolstered their ranks with former Ahli midfielder Luis Jimenez, Nilmar and Jonathan Pitroipa.
"All of the teams have improved, brought in new players and they're more powerful now," Olaroiu explained.
alex@khaleejtimes.com