Al Shamal coach Poya Asbaghi spoke to the media ahead of their 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League Week 14 match against Al Rayyan.

“We are ready to resume our season after a long break. We, as players and technical staff, are looking forward to a strong start, and the beginning will be against Al Rayyan, which is a difficult and organized team that has players at the highest level and we have all respect for it, and it is necessary for us to be fully focused when facing it in order to achieve our goal from the match.

“We respect Al Rayyan, but our team also deserves respect after the good levels we presented throughout the matches of the first half of the league.

“I congratulate our Al Annabi team on winning the Qatar 2023 Asian Cup for the second time in a row. Qatar made a wonderful achievement by winning the Asian Cup for the second time in a row. It was interesting to follow their journey in the tournament, and therefore we congratulate all the players and all technical staff,” said Asbaghi.

Al Shamal player Mohammed Al Jabri said, “I hope that we have benefited from the long break, during which we tried to correct mistakes through daily training and the friendly matches that we played.

“The Al Rayyan match will certainly not be easy. We will face a great team and of course we will strive to achieve the best possible result.

“I congratulate our national team for winning the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023. Congratulations to our team, players and everyone who contributed to Al Annabi’s victory and it is a great achievement.”