Al Ain would have blown Lokomotiv Tashkent away during Tuesday night’s goalless 2016 AFC Champions League quarter-final opener if their preparations hadn’t been hampered by a club v country row, according to frustrated coach Zlatko Dalic.
The unrehearsed Boss kicked off their 2016/17 commitments at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium amid the backdrop of their seven-strong UAE contingent spending only 10 days with them after early release from an international training camp failed to materialise.
This lack of sharpness was apparent against well-oiled opponents who, in contrast, are midway through their domestic season and wasted two glaring chances through winger Sardor Mirzayev.
“I don’t want to cry or find excuses,” said Dalic, who will hope for an improved display during the return match on September 13 in Uzbekistan.
“OK, we will try our best with this situation. I must believe in a good result and success. This is not a good time for me. I am not happy, I am responsible for everything here but there is nothing I can do.
“If I’d had my players for a month, I guarantee we would have scored three goals tonight.”
The situation isn’t likely to vastly improve in time for the second leg at Bunyodkor Stadium.
Finally all together in training,thank God!
— Zlatko Dalic (@DalicZlatko) August 13, 2016
Dalic’s Whites players head to Shanghai on Thursday where the squad is convening ahead of September 1’s daunting trip to Japan and September 6’s visit of Australia, as the third-and-final round of World Cup 2018 qualifying gets under way.
The Croatian’s remaining players will play two friendlies and two Arabian Gulf Cup games in the interim.
Despite these hurdles, the 49-year-old remained sanguine.
He said: “I have to be happy with how my team played tonight. We had control and possession, but we just missed a goal.
“We tried throughout the game to have control. We had good opportunities to score, but sometimes we were unlucky and other times we didn’t concentrate.
“We had a good game, but we didn’t win or score a goal – 0-0 is a good result for us from this match. The result is open and we have a chance for everything when we play them again.”
