So far, Al Shabab are getting the job done with less

Club have exceeded expectations in the first half and is just three points behind Al Ahli but manager Marcos Paqueta said his side are not done yet.

Marcos Paqueta's Al Shabab are in good position to challenge league leaders Al Ahli for the title. Pawan Singh / The National
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Over the past four months, Marcos Paqueta has repeatedly faced questions about Al Shabab’s targets and ambitions for the season.

“We want to finish among the top four in the league,” has been his standard reply.

But why talk about the top four when the team is second in the Arabian Gulf League title race?

The Brazilian smiled.

“Our target is a top-four finish, but if we are second, it means we are doing better than planned,” he said.

Shabab, indeed, are exceeding the expectations of most. After the sale of Ciel and Walid Abbas to rivals Al Ahli in the summer, few talked up their chances and discussion of a top-four finish was dismissed purely as optimism. But here they are, three points behind leaders Ahli at the midway stage and three ahead of Al Nasr, Sharjah and Al Jazira.

The ride has been far from smooth, but Shabab have confounded expectations. They are second in the scoring charts with 30, and have conceded 17 – only Sharjah (11) and Ahli (12) have done better on defence.

These statistics suggest a well-rounded team and their 3-1 victory over Emirates in the 12th round – despite the absence of crucial players such as Azizbek Haydarov, Edgar Bruno and Hassan Ibrahim – clearly shows the team has character, courage and bench strength, though it is probably not as deep as some of the other top teams.

The job, though, is only half done and Paqueta is hoping his team can continue to confound their detractors. But can they seriously challenge Ahli for the title? Can they beat them to the tape?

You can never say never with Shabab, but it seems improbable.

Last season, Al Ain had a seven-point lead at the midway stage of the league and finished with an 11-point cushion.

Ahli led by only one fewer – before they were deducted three points for fielding an ineligible player – but have not looked as indomitable as did Al Ain. The defending champions had scored 49 goals in their first 13 matches, while Ahli have 25.

Fortune has been on their side, with nine of their 32 points coming from goals in injury time, including the match at Ajman, when they received a highly contentious penalty in the seventh minute of added time.

As Catalin Raducan, Ahli’s assistant coach, pointed out, the team’s participation in the Asian Champions League could stretch their resources in the closing stages of the league season.

Shabab, who will not be playing in Asia though they will take part in the Gulf Clubs Championship, could seize that moment.

Their fortunes could hinge on the availability of Haydarov. The Uzbek, the mainstay of the team, strained a hamstring against Ahli and will be out for at least six weeks.

It is an injury serious enough to have prompted Shabab to secure the Brazilian Eder Lima on a six-month loan as a temporary replacement.

Haydarov is such an important player that his absence, especially if he misses a longer period of action, could seriously hamper Shabab’s challenge.

That could bring Sharjah and Al Jazira into the equation.

The respective managers of those two teams, Walter Zenga and Paulo Bonamigo, have plenty of experience playing the cat-and-mouse game at the top of the table in this country and that will certainly play a part in the second half of the season.

If Shabab do slip, they will probably look back ruefully at a few events during the first half of the season. Atop that list would be the surprise loss at Al Shaab.

The Deira Derby will be one of them as well. The difference between the two teams at the top of the table was one point when the Mamzar club travelled to their neighbours with an opportunity to take the lead.

Shabab failed to get a point from that game and then, to make matters worse, Bruno missed a penalty in the draw at Baniyas on Thursday.

As the cameras zoomed in on Paqueta at that moment, the Brazilian looked stunned, clutching his head in disbelief.

He knew how costly that miss was against a 10-man Baniyas and, when Shabab look back at their season, that penalty and the loss to Shaab may well come back to haunt them.

arizvi@thenational.ae

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