Amman - Al-Hussein Irbid is looking to turn the page on coach Ahmad Hael and open a new chapter with its fans, as it faces India's East Bengal tomorrow at Amman International Stadium, at the start of its AFC Champions League Two campaign, in a match through which the team hopes to restore its presence and its supporters' confidence.
اضافة اعلان
The Asian match comes at a sensitive time for the team, following a difficult start to the current season, whose most recent chapter was a goalless draw against Al-Baqa'a in the Professional League, after which the club announced ending its relationship with coach Ahmad Hael by mutual consent, a step forced by the fallout from recent results.
Al-Hussein hopes the match against Bengal will mark a new starting point, away from the atmosphere of the past period, especially since the team recognizes the importance of achieving a positive result that restores calm to the stands and gives the players a morale boost before continuing domestic and continental commitments.
The new coaching staff, led by interim coach Bashar Bani Yassin, is trying to quickly sort out the team's affairs and address the errors that appeared in recent matches, given the need to show a different character against Bengal and achieve an Asian start that gives Al-Hussein a chance to restore its balance and reconcile with its fans.
Al-Hussein's fans view the Asian tournament as an opportunity to move past the effects of the club's faltering domestic start, waiting for the team to show a different image, and to confirm that the heavy 5-0 loss to Al-Jazeera at the start of the league was a stumble that can be overcome, not an indication of the team's form this season.
Al-Hussein opened its season with a clean 3-0 loss to Uzbekistan's Bakhtakor, in the qualifying playoff match for the AFC Champions League Elite, before losing the Super Cup title to Al-Faisaly, following a 2-1 defeat to them in the final, having previously beaten Al-Ramtha 5-0 in the semifinal.
Al-Hussein finds itself in a relatively balanced group as it seeks to return to winning ways, having landed in Group 4 alongside Iraq's Al-Shorta and Oman's Al-Seeb, giving the team hope of advancing past the group stage for the third consecutive season, in its fourth-ever participation in this tournament.
"The Yellow" has not delivered the performances hoped for it in the recent period, given the decline in form of a large number of its stars, alongside the new signings having had no impact so far, whether local or foreign players, settling for just one win, over Al-Ramtha, which was going through exceptionally difficult circumstances, before that semifinal match.
Perhaps the most notable observation about Al-Hussein's squad is its heavy reliance on players with a young average age, which has contributed to a lack of decisiveness resulting from some players losing their composure, having struggled to cope under fan pressure and the difficulty of opponents.
Al-Hussein's management is racing against time to appoint a new coach to replace Hael, with nominations leaning toward a new foreign coach to lead the team, after several coaches oversaw the club's training in recent years without any of them lasting for a long period.
Among the most notable coaches who led Al-Hussein in recent years was Portuguese coach João Mota, who coached the team in two different spells, while Romanian coach Valeriu Tiță also took charge of the team for a brief period, alongside Portuguese Tiago Moutinho and Brazilian Ney Franco, who coached Al-Hussein last season.
Resource: Al-Ghad. Reporting: Muhannad Jweiles
