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Tribune News Network Doha Al Ahli coach Joaquin Caparros quit his post on Wednesday citing personal reasons. Caparros tendered his resignation to the club management through telephone from his native Spain and offered apologies as the team is gearing up for the second phase of QNB Stars League. The club management, which accepted Caparros’ apology, was to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday evening to discuss replacement for him. The Spaniard’s sudden resignation has put Al Ahli in a spot. They will host Al Gharafa in the 12th round of QNB Stars League on January 12. The Brigadiers are sixth in the standings with 14 points after 11 matches with four wins, five draws and two defeats. Caparros’ resignation came at a time when Al Ahli were on a high having defeated strong teams Al Sailiya and Al Rayyan in the last two rounds before the league took a break. Arabi host Markhiya in friendly Al Arabi played host to Al Markhiya in a friendly on Wednesday as part of their preparations for the second phase of QNB Stars League. The match provided Al Arabi’s Croatian coach Luka Bounacic with an opportunity to try out various combinations ahead of their 12th-round match against Al Sailiya on January 12 at the Al Ahli Stadium. Meanwhile, the players, except Ahmed Fathi and Saad Nateq who are doing duty for Qatar and Iraq respectively at the Gulf Cup in Kuwait, continued their training under the watchful eyes of coaching staff. Interestingly, the two players faced each other on Tuesday when Qatar went down 1-2 to Iraq. However, Syrian professional player Mardik Mardikian attended the training sessions after recovering from an injury. He is expected to be fully fit for the forthcoming fixtures and compensate for his belowpar performance in the first phase. Al Sailiya gear up for second phase Al Sailiya Football Head Abdulla al Hanzab said they were fully gearing up for the second phase of QNB Stars League, which will start on January 11. The team is currently having a training camp at the Aspire Zone as part of preparations chalked out by the club’s technical and administrative staff. The camp (December 23 to 29) aims to further improve the players’ performance on the physical and technical fronts. It is also designed to enhance their mental fitness in a positive atmosphere. Hanzab said the players responded well to the strategies adopted by the coaching staff, adding they took the camp in utmost seriousness considering that the league’s second phase would be too demanding. “We wanted our players to take full advantage of the atmosphere at the camp so that they would be ready for the challenges in the tough second phase. We must put in our best efforts and stay focused in order not to drop points. “Our performance in the first phase should be a motivation for the players to continue from where they left off. We did quite well in the first part of the league. Hopefully, we’ll score more points from the remaining 11 games,” he said. Hanzab stressed consistency helped them achieve the fourth place in standings. “The technical as well as administrative stability contributed greatly to our per formanc e so far this season. Club management, coach (Sami) Trabelsi and the players played a great role in it,” he said. Al Sailiya have 19 points from six victories. Hanzab spoke about the chances of Qatar at the ongoing Gulf Cup in Kuwait. “The Qatar squad is a good mix of youth and experience. We wish Al Annabi good luck and hope they perform well in the tournament. That’ll be important for Qatar in their future engagements,” he added.
