Al Wakrah coach Marquez Lopez spoke to the media ahead of their 2022-2023 season QNB Stars League Week 3 match against Umm Salal.

“Preparation for the match against Umm Salal was not long and training was limited to only two days, but that will not prevent the team from preparing well for this confrontation.

“We had a day to recover after our strong match with Al Gharafa, then the players got one day off, and then the training was for two days. I hope that everyone is ready for this difficult game.

“We are currently playing our matches in the league against the backdrop of a great shortage of players, up to seven players at once, including six Qataris, be it their participation in the national team or due to injury, in addition to one professional player. I always say that Qatari players are very important for any team, Al Sadd and Al Duhail being the best examples. They were outperforming all the teams because of their local players, and of course they are suffering a lot now because of the absence of these players,” said Marquez.

Al Wakrah player Ismail Mahmoud said, “I am confident that the Al Wakrah match with Umm Salal will be enthusiastic and strong, given the great capabilities that each team possesses, be it at the level of technical staff or the players.

“The Umm Salal team has an additional advantage over my team, which is that the team gets an extra day of rest, considering that it played its last match on Tuesday and we played on Wednesday, but we prepared ourselves physically and technically for this game in the hope of continuing the series of positive results.”