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Arabian Gulf Cup: Al Wahda coach Javier Aguirre says beating Emirates Club is crucial

Matt Jones

00:00 04/10/2016

The Mexican has endured a wretched start to the 2016/17 season with his team yet to win in five games – including two defeats and a draw from their opening three AG Cup matches.

Aguirre, however, does not feel retaining a trophy they won for the first time last season is beyond his side. But he feels they have to win their next three matches, starting with struggling Emirates today.

“We need to win this game otherwise we are out of the competition,” said the ex-Atletico Madrid boss who led Wahda to the trophy following a 1-0 win against Al Shabab in April.

“We didn’t play well in the last game but the Al Wasl game is gone. We are now focused on this game. We have to win this game, we want three points. Our position at the moment is not good but to take the Cup again is possible, but we need to win three games.”

In theory the Clarets have played their most difficult games, drawing with Al Jazira and losing to Al Dhafra and Wasl, with Shrajah and Hatta to follow after the Falcons.

Theo Bucker’s side are not in great form themselves, having won for the first time this season in a 4-0 thrashing of Hatta last time out in the Cup.

They are two points above Wahda and Aguirre insists just one win is required to turn their dreadful start around.

“We have to take three points in this game to hopefully start our season, just a win is needed in order to do that,” said the man who led the Al Nahyan outfit to a trophy and the AFC Champions League playoffs in his debut campaign in Abu Dhabi.

“We have just one point but we will try to win this game to make our fans happy and to recover our players’ confidence. We have not played well from the beginning of the season, we haven’t won a game yet, but we are not a bad team. There is no reason for this.”

New signing Nasser Abdulhadi echoed his coach’s comments by claiming a first win could be the turning point for Wahda.

“The Emirates game will be our gate for a return to winning ways,” said the midfielder, acquired from Dibba Al Fujairah in the summer.

“We didn’t play well in the last game and have to win this game. It won’t be easy because, like the coach said, our position is not good now. We want to win cups all the time and we will fight in this game to start our season and give us new confidence.”

Chile schemer Jorge Valdivia and Hungary captain Balazs Dzsudzsak will not feature as they are away with their national teams.

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