Al Gharafa owe a lot to Hector Moreno for their fourth position in the 2019-20 QNB Stars League, which is to resume on 24th July following a long break forced by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 32-year-old defender, who has represented Mexico at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cups and has had stints with Spanish (Real Sociedad and Espanyol), Italian (AS Roma) as well as Dutch (AZ and PSV Eindhoven) clubs, speaks to qsl.qa in an Exclusive Interview.

Excerpts:

How do you view Al Gharafa’s preparations for the restart of competitions amid the coronavirus pandemic?

Well, we’ve had enough time to prepare for the remaining games. We know that it won’t be easy, but our staff are doing their maximum to make us reach the best level of readiness.

What’s your personal take on this unprecedented situation?

Life became different everywhere. Around the world, many people are suffering. Some have lost their dear ones. As footballers, we try to be ready for a comeback because when people watch football, it can help them believe they’re going back to normal life. I think football has that power.

How’s the training programme going on?

It’s like pre-season work. It’s hard. We’ve to be ready for the remaining games. The difference is that we’ll go directly into crucial games, so we’ve to reach the required level quickly. That makes a big difference because, during pre-season preparations, we’ve time to adapt. In this case, we don’t have much time to adjust.

What’re the major changes being made by the coach?

We’re doing the necessary work to be ready for the next game. Maybe the only thing is that we had to take online training classes during the break and that was new to us, but we had to adapt to that situation.

Al Gharafa have been doing well by occupying the fourth position in the table…

For me, I believe it has been a transition season for the club, with a new coach and new players. Of course, we can be better, but so far it is acceptable for me to be in this position, but we’ll fight till the end to be higher.

What’s your target in the league, having bowed out of both Amir Cup and Ooredoo Cup in the quarterfinal stage?

With five games remaining, we must focus on securing our fourth position, which’ll give us opportunities to play in the Qatar Cup and AFC Champions League. That’s an important target for the club and fans. We wish to be in the top-three bracket as well.

What’re your expectations of the remaining five games?

We’ve very important and tough games. We’ll start against Al Arabi. They’re also fighting to be in the top four, so we must be ready to take points from these games. I’m confident we can do it.