• Home
• /
• Football

Jazira Coach Braga Slams Players

ABU DHABI — Al Jazira coach Abel Braga came down hard on his team despite them rallying to take three points against Emirates.

Al Jazira, who are second in the standings, were staring at their second defeat but they fought back to edge past bottom-placed Emirates 3-2 in Week 16 of the Etisalat UAE Pro-League at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium on Sunday night.

Tony scored a brace, the second off a penalty, while substitute Sultan Al Minhali scored the other goal for Al Jazira. For Emirates, Reda Inaiati scored off a penalty while Karim Karkar scored the second goal.

Jazira stayed in the hunt for the League title and are second on the table with 39 points, just a point behind League leaders Al Wahda. Al Jazira have 12 wins, three draws and a loss.

Emirates are second from the bottom with 13 points from 16 games. They have won four, drawn one and lost 11 games.

“The players should know the importance of the three points. They didn’t not play well in the first half. I wish they change their mentality,” Braga said.

Al Jazira are locked in a intense battle with arch-rivals Al Wahda for the Pro-League title and any slip up from now on, will derail their campaign.

“I am not exaggerating about the performance of the players and I am not blaming the replaced players. But we will have to work things out in our future games,” and added: “Our defence was a bit weak and there was a bit of confusion. The players made mistakes, some unnecessary ones which almost cost us the match.”

Braga praised the Emirates team for their efforts. “I praise the Emirates team despite their defeat. They persisted on getting three points and so did we. Some of our players relaxed after the first goal, thinking that it was enough.

“But that was the wrong attitude. I told the players during half-time that they should act on it before it was too late,” he said and added: “The Emirates team attacked a lot created some problems for us.

“They lead for sometime and they played a good game.”

Braga was also fulsome in his praise for Tony, who scored two goals. “Tony played well. He had a good game and I praise him for his efforts,” Braga said.

Jazira led by a goal until the 43^rd minute but a penalty after Emirates’ Adnan Husain was fouled by Jazira’s Marcio Rozario, ensured they had a fight on their hands. But Braga felt that Rozario was going for the ball and not the player.

“Regarding the penalty, it was a harsh decision on Rozario because he was going for the ball and not the player (Adnan Husain). Besides, Adnan Husain is a fast player and fast players always create problems for the other team,” said Braga.

james@khaleejtimes.com