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King Abdullah II last visited the White House in February when he called for an immediate ceasefire
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‘We need to keep our feet on the ground’
ABU DHABI — Although being tagged as favourites to enter the final, former champions SC Internacional are not looking beyond the semi-final. The Brazilian club, which won the FIFA Club World Cup in 2006, will lock horns against TP Mazembe in the semi-final at the Zayed Sports City on Tuesday night.
“We have to have our feet on the ground. Nobody can win a game before it is played. We need to show it on the pitch. We have studied footage of TP Mazembe. We know about them. We respect them and we have learnt a lot about them,” Internacional coach Celso Roth said on Saturday.
Roth added though that they could get the job done. “We believe that we can do it. The quality of Brazilian football is good. All the teams that are here are good and have good quality,” he said.
Roth said that they had studied videos of TP Mazembe and he added that it won’t be easy. “We had an opportunity to watch the game on Friday night. TP Mazembe are a very good team. They are strong and they will be difficult opponents. We know about African football. It is competitive football and strong. It will be difficult in the semifinal on Tuesday. Their counter-attacks are very good. We know that we won’t find it easy. They have some quick players and we have to be careful about them,” he said and added: “African football is aggressive. They have good quality players. Modern football is always competitive. They have the luxury of having already played a game in the competition. But we have a good team. Of course, we will be a bit nervous in the beginning of the game as it will be our first match of the competition. We need to control that and get past that quickly.”
About his team, Roth, who had coached Dubai-based Al Ahli in the 90s, said: “We have a team which has good maturity. We believe in ourselves and we need to put it into practice. It is difficult but we can do it. We will work with the quality that we have. Having a good group is most important to work together. I hope we can do it.”
Roth reiterated that the first game will always be difficult. “Every match is important. The first game is always difficult in any competition. This game will be difficult. But we should focus more and attention is more important. We are here with some of the best clubs in the world. It is a great opportunity for us. We need to do our best to be with the best,” said Roth.
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