Al Wahda's talisman Matar suffers fracture

Dubai - The 34-year-old star was fouled by Khamis Ismail in the first half of their AGL fixture at the Rashid Stadium

Al Wahda talisman Ismail Matar has suffered a fracture to his left leg following a tackle from Shabab Al Ahli Dubai's Khamis Ismail, coach Laurentiu Reghecampf confirmed.
Matar, 34, was fouled by Khamis Ismail in the first half of their Arabian Gulf League fixture at the Rashid Stadium, and although he continued to play after receiving treatment, Matar couldn't carry on and was stretchered off on the half hour.
He was taken to the hospital and initial tests confirmed he had suffered a fracture.
"First picture showed that he has a fracture. He is in hospital now and I hope it is not so bad," said Reghecampf.
Khamis Ismail visited Ismail Matar at the hospital, after the game.
"For us, it was a very bad day because I think Ismail (Matar) has a fracture. I don't think the Shabab Al Ahli Dubai player didn't want to break the leg of Ismail. It was a very bad attack in the middle. I always tell my players to play fair, every time to attack the ball and not the legs of the opponents," added Reghecampf.
Meanwhile, talking about the game, the Romanian said that the goalless stalemate was a fair result.
"I think it was a very nice game, both teams tried to play and win. We had three or four big chances but so did Shabab Al Ahli Dubai. In the end, I think it is a good result for both teams. Now, we have to look forward to the next game because we have Al Ain and we still have many problems in the team," he said.
The Abu Dhabi club have been riddled with injuries but Reghecampf hoped to assemble 11 players from the 24-man squad for their next fixture against Al Ain.
"I think we lost not only Ismail, we lost Salem two weeks ago. (Balazs) Dzsudzsak couldn't train this week because he had a problem in his ankle. And today (Friday), it was Ismail. It is a big loss for us. But we will see. We have 24 players, all in the good level, and I hope to prepare a good team for the next game and have 11 players to fight and do the same like today. It is not easy to win one point against Shabab Al Ahli Dubai in their stadium. It is a very strong team, very good organisation. That's why, we have to be happy today," Reghecampf said.
Al Wahda, who were the early pace setters, are in the League's top five but Reghecampf didn't list them as clear favourites but said that they do stand a chance.
"We are not one of the favourites but when you see our game, our football, then maybe you can say that we are one of the four teams who have a chance to win the championship. We will play every game thinking only about how we play and what we can do to improve and for me it is not about how Shabab Al Ahli Dubai, Al Ain and Al Wasl are playing. My focus is to train my team and to show everyone we are a strong team and we play nice football," he said.
Meanwhile, his opposite number Cosmin Olaroiu agreed that it was a good game.
"It was a tough game, a hard tussle between two teams and both had chances to score and win. In the second half, things dropped a bit. We had a better share of the chances but we didn't score. They had three and we had four. We faced a very good team, well organised. They had one in the first half and two in the second half. The game only missed goals. In the end, everyone saw a really very good game," said Olaroiu.
james@khaleejtimes.com