Al Wakrah coach Jose Murcia spoke to the media ahead of their 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League Week 16 match against Al Rayyan.

“We are seeking to score points in this match and despite my acknowledgment of the difficulty of the match, I have great confidence in the Al Wakrah players and realize that they have the ability to implement all instructions in order to achieve the desired goal.

“We forgot the last match which we lost to Al Markhiya and we completely closed that chapter in order to focus on the upcoming matches, starting with the Al Rayyan match, in order to be back on the winning path.

“The first steps in preparation came by forgetting the past loss and we focused in training on correcting the mistakes we committed. We became fully prepared for this match.

“There are no absences in the team, except for Hamdi Fathi, who was injured in the last match, and therefore he will be the only absentee in the next match,” said Murcia.

Al Wakrah player Omar Salah said, “Al Rayyan are a big team and have the same number of points as we do, so both teams will focus on getting the three points. Hence the difficulty of the match. For our part, we will make every effort to achieve victory.

“Big teams that have a strong personality always have the ability to return to the winning path, and we will prove that we are one of the strong teams whose players have this mentality. God-willing, the Al Rayyan match will be a new start for us.”

“Although Al Wakrah did not achieve any victory after the long break, the road is still long and we have the ability to remain in the top tier and finish the season in the top four.”