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Etisalat Cup Semi-Final: Al Wahda v Al Jazira Pre-Match Press Conferences

Al Wahda host Al Jazira in the semi-final of the Etisalat Cup on Monday night, but the home side have been without their head coach Branko Ivankovic in the lead-up to the game as the Croatian boss had to return home due to a bereavement in the family. Ivankovic will be back in time to take his place in the dugout for the match at the Al Nahyan Stadium, but in his absence assistant coach Andrej Panadic stepped up to media duties at the pre-match press conference. “We know every detail about Al Jazira, and Al Jazira know every detail about us,” Panadic explained. “We have met them twice already this season; they beat us in the Etisalat Pro League and we beat them in the quarter-final of the President’s Cup, which is a similar game to this one as it is a Cup knockout. We know the power of their players in every position but we have great confidence in our side that we can overcome them and make it to the final.” Responding to a query about whether three days between an international game and a club game is enough time for the players to recover, Panadic stated that top professional players use their desire and motivation to deal with fixture congestion and play important games in quick succession. However, there is a clash with one international fixture as Dino Djulbic is away with the Australian team for their 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Oman on Tuesday, and thus will be unavailable for Al Wahda’s Etisalat Cup semi-final on Monday.

Al Jazira head coach Luis Milla also confirmed in his pre-match press conference that his side will be missing one player to international duty, as Hyungmin Shin is away with South Korea for their Asian Cup qualifying match for the 2014 World Cup against Qatar on Tuesday. However, the Spaniard is happy to welcome back his five UAE national team players, including Khamis Esmail, Ali Khaseif and Ali Mabkhout, who all played important roles in the 2-1 victory over Uzbekistan on Friday. “We will try to play with the best team, with players that can compete. The national team players will be with us. We have three players, Khamis, Mabkhout and Khaseif, who played a good game, and with this win we also hope the confidence is getting better. We are sure that they are going to help us,” Milla said. Playing down the fact that Al Wahda have the added benefit of being the home team, Milla stated that any derby game against Al Wahda is exciting, and they do not allow the opposing team any time or space on the ball. “We will give our all from the first minute to the last minute because we want to win this game and reach the final. Al Jazira has the potential to win and we need this to build for our future. We have great ambitions and plans with our new training regime. The transition period from one school of thought to another is not easy and we have faced many difficulties in getting the players to adapt to the new training philosophy and playing style, but I am very optimistic that it will start paying off in the coming weeks,” he said.