Ashour: Salima is developing... and the loss to Zaid is beneficial

Kuwait, Al-Salmiya, and Al-Fahaheel clubs continued their training and preparations at their summer camps in the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Egypt, respectively. While the “White” team (Kuwait) prepares to face English side Portsmouth in their second friendly match on Wednesday in London, the “Sky Blue” team (Al-Salmiya) lost their first friendly match in the Turkish city of Izmit to their counterparts at ZED, a First Division team in the Egyptian league, by a score of 1-0. Meanwhile, the “Red” team (Al-Fahaheel) began their first training session at their camp in Alexandria yesterday morning under the guidance of their new Slovakian coach, Martin Svejda.

Al-Salmiya played their first experimental match in Turkey the day before yesterday, fielding two different lineups across the two halves. They conceded a late goal, with Bahraini coach Ali Ashour deploying a completely different lineup in the first half compared to previous matches. He gave opportunities to 14 players in the second half, bringing the total number of participants in the match to 25 out of the 33 players in the Turkish camp.

On his part, Al-Salmiya’s Bahraini coach Ali Ashour confirmed that the loss to ZED brought many benefits to the team. He noted that the Egyptian side is among the best teams in their league and will participate in the Confederation Cup, adding that they were highly prepared, having played three friendly matches before facing Al-Salmiya.

He added that the match result did not reflect the overall performance of both teams, especially Al-Salmiya, as minor errors in passing and positioning led to the only goal. However, he stated that the final outcome was satisfactory, particularly regarding the physical aspect, as the players showed noticeable improvement in their physical efforts. He emphasized that they would continue working to develop tactical aspects in the coming days, noting that young players delivered a good level, especially in defense, which had been the focus of the technical staff in recent days.

Ashour stressed that the players’ discipline in daily morning and evening training sessions, as well as off the pitch, would yield the desired benefits from the Turkish camp. He thanked the Al-Salmiya board of directors, chaired by Sheikh Turki Al-Yousef, for their continuous support of the team and their commitment to providing all means for the team to appear in the best possible shape in next season’s competitions.