El Jaish takes on Al Gahrafa at the Lekhwiya stadium on Thursday in round twelve of the QSL. Jaish are top of the table with twenty-eight points from eleven games. The Soldiers will be gunning for the three points to ensure their position at the summit of the QSL standings.

Sabri Lamouchi, the head coach of Al Gharafa is looking forward to the break after the two upcoming games, “First game of two before the vacation and its Al Gharafa, my players deserve the break because they have been working very hard. It’s a good team, they have good players and good midfield it will be a tough game.”

“When we play against a better team we make a good performance. The last ones against Muaither and Shahania they don’t give you space and time they are not easy teams to play against. Last season we lost a lot of points to small teams and this season we are making sure this doesn’t happen. We played with determination and passion and we never give up and this is a quality of my players,” added the French tactician at the press conference on Wednesday.

Speaking about the team’s ambition and determination, Lamouchi added, “Our team is working at a rate of 150%. The players are giving more than they can. After the AFC semi-final, we lost a lot of energy but the players came back with a lot of determination. This year we have played better,  with more determination. This time last year we were losing points to the small teams but this year I’m happy with the player’s reaction.”



Al Gharafa’s five game winning streak came to an end in their last game against Sailiya which they lost 2-1. The Cheetahs are in fourth pace with twenty points and will be hunting for a victory against the table toppers.

Pedro Caixinha, the head coach of Al Gharafa is going into this game for the win, “It’s up to the players if they are going to start or not we have set up all the players. We are going into this game to win and that’s what we are aiming for.”

Speaking about his teams' injury situation, Caixinha added, “We have seven players out with injury, El Jaish also have many injuries but on the day both teams will have eleven players on the field. We lost the last game but it’s important to note that we went more than seventy days without losing and that is because of the quality of the players. We are a big team, we have history and you cannot buy that.”

“If we played so many games without losing it means we were doing a good job. This means that teams who are playing you respect you more. We played El Jaish last season and the result was 2-2 and we played well. They don’t rely on possession they rely on the counter and they can get you. Each opponent will put some different problems for us and we need to find different solutions for them,” added the Portuguese head coach.