Syria sensation aiming high at Dhafra

Matt Jones - Editor 04:16 12/09/2016
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  • Forward Omar Khrbin scored an incredible nine goals in 12 games after signing for Dhafra in January

    Omar Khrbin has set himself two targets for the 2016/17 Arabian Gulf League season – score 20 goals and win silverware with Al Dhafra.

    The Syrian sensation stormed onto the scene when he netted nine goals in 12 Arabian Gulf League games for the Western Knights when he joined a struggling side in January.

    His arrival helped turn their season around and his goals propelled them from eight points to 34 as they finished eighth.

    The 22-year-old had plenty of offers to move on to bigger and better things during the summer – including from AGL rivals Al Wahda and Al Nasr.

    Khrbin, however, admits to feeling very comfortable in the Western Region and feels success can be his with Dhafra.

    “I have two challenges I have put in my mind. I scored nine goals in 12 games last season so now I want to score 20 goals for the team,” Khrbin told Sport360 during pre-season.

    The tricky playmaker helped Dhafra finish eighth in the AGL

    The tricky playmaker helped Dhafra finish eighth in the AGL

    “The second challenge is, with the team, we have to reach a good position and we have to fight for any cup from two, the President’s Cup or the Arabian Gulf Cup. Because it’s only four or five games and you can reach the final.”

    The 6ft schemer arrived in the winter transfer window to little fanfare from Al Wahda in his homeland, but he was soon a name on everyone’s lips.

    He scored on his debut, a 2-1 defeat to Al Ain on January 8 and hit the headlines when he bagged a 90th minute equaliser against champions Al Ahli at the end of the month.

    Mohamed Kwid’s Western Knights lost just four of 14 games after Khrbin joined and he has already hit the goal trail this season too, netting once as well as an assist in the 4-2 Arabian Gulf Cup victory against Al Wahda – a team he might have been scoring for – last Thursday.

    “(There was) a very serious offer from Saudi club Al Nassr, they wanted me but the club did not want to let me go, and locally from Al Wahda,” admitted Khrbin.

    Syrian star

    • Age: 22
    • Syria caps: 28, Goals: 13
    • Previous clubs: Al Wahda (Syria); Al Quwa Al Jawiya, Al Mina'a (both Iraq)

    “They asked me and Al Nasr in Dubai too, but I like it here and I am 100 per cent happy to stay here in this club. I like everybody and everybody likes me.”

    Khrbin’s choice to stay after making such a huge impact is admirable, but is also perhaps indicative of how players at Dhafra are treated.

    Star striker Makhete Diop has been one of the AGL’s highest scoring players during his four seasons in a Dhafra side that have been perennial strugglers, yet has stayed put.

    And Khrbin, already capped 28 times by Syria – scoring an impressive 13 goals – feels he can win things with the club.

    “We have a very good relationship between the foreign players,” he said.

    “We talk together and we have to give the team more. We have to help this club more because they help us with everything we want as players.

    “They make us relaxed so, with the local players and staff and management, we have to be better than last season. We need to give the club more.

    “I try my best, I fight, I train hard and the important thing was the team helped me a lot (last season). So for this season I have to help the team and help myself because I have confidence in my gut and in myself that I can do better than last season.”

    Khrbin (c) pictured with star striker Makhete Diop (r)

    Khrbin (c) pictured with star striker Makhete Diop (r)

    Dhafra won just five of 19 games prior to the start of 2016 and Khrbin has warned his team-mates that if success is to be achieved, they cannot afford such a slow start to the new campaign.

    “We finished the league with very good results and in a good situation so for this season we have to continue how we finished last season,” said Khrbin, whose side have won their opening two AG Cup games so far against Wahda and Hatta.

    “We don’t have to stay behind. We can fight for a good position. The schedule last season was difficult for us. We want to take ourselves away from a dangerous situation. We did it with our teamwork last season and we have to continue the same.

    “It was a very difficult decision for me when I came. It was the first time I’d come to the UAE and I didn’t know anything about the league.

    “The team were in a bad situation, with eight points, but I put it in my mind that this is a very big challenge. It gave me a good chance and I did it well.”

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