Resilience

The last two matches of al-Hilal have much in common: both matches had one team very eager to win and another that the match didn't matter to them.

On Monday, al-Hilal were eager to win and smacked al-Ahli reserves 3-0. The match proves, once again, that Tariq has become indispensable to the team, and it would be a huge mistake not to sign a long-term deal with him, regardless of the excuses the management use to avoid it. But the good news was Nawaf, who played a good match for the first time in months. He wasn't superb, but his assist to Yassir has brought back some sweet memories. Speaking of Yassir, the Sniper has finally scored after fasting for the last few weeks. Al-Najie has had a touch that could have deflected the ball to a corner, but luckily it found its way to the net. Tariq sealed the victory with one of his trademark passes to sub Fahad Mubarak who scored the third goal in the additional time.

On Friday, al-Shabab were eager to win, while Paqueta has decided to use the reserves in order to give the first team some rest before leaving to Kuwait to play their last group match in the ACL. I have not watched the match because I was driving from the EP to Riyadh, but the result was not at all surprising: 3-1. Sami, who will probably retire at the end of season, started and scored al-Hilal's only goal from the penalty spot.

Now coming to Wednesday's critical match against Kuwait Club in the Friendship and Peace Stadium: a draw is enough for al-Hilal to claim the top spot in the group and win the only seat to the quarter-finals. We can expect a difficult match, especially after the bitter last minute draw in Riyadh, but I believe the team has gained momentum since then. Al-Shelhoub is ruled out due to injury, which is unfortunate, of course, because he usually does great in Asia, but I think this could be Yassir's match more than anyone else. A shock and awe approach might crack the opponent early, but far more important for the team in this match is to show resilience.