Big test first up for Maradona

Al Wasl boss Diego Maradona isn't reading too much into his team's mixed pre-season form as he prepares to kick off his competitive reign on Thursday against Al Jazira in an Etisalat Cup encounter. In two friendly matches played, Maradona's men emerged 3-1 winners against Ittihad Kalba on August 28, but followed that up with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Dibba Fujairah last week. But in a media conference held this week, Maradona said the two games had proved valuable in helping him identify his team's shortcomings. "I think that we have to keep on improving," he said. "The friendly matches are useful for us. The first score 3-1 was not something that made me very, very happy and we have to improve in defence so that we can support the midfield and go forward quickly in order to strike. "I am confident and I say it again, the friendly matches, whatever the results you have, you always learn from these games. For us the match that we lost was more useful to us because we learnt a lot more than the one we won," he added. The Argentine legend said confidently that Al Wasl fans could expect to see a different side take the pitch at the Mohammad Bin Zayed stadium on Thursday away to the current Pro-League champions. "We will be careful on Thursday against a team that we know a lot about," the former Argentina coach said. "The players are ready. [Al Jazira] have the advantage of having played together longer than us, but we have our own tricks and tactics to hurt them. We are not going to play defensively. We are going to take care because Jazira are a good team, and we'll try to counterattack and hurt them, in footballing terms of course." Al Wasl represents Maradona's latest opportunity to prove that in addition to being considered a legendary player, he can cut it out as a coach as well. The 50-year-old is known to share a good relationship with Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho, and when asked by XPRESS if he had managed to pick up some tactical pointers from the man many regard as the best in the business, Maradona said: "I haven't learned that much because I haven't had the pleasure of sharing training sessions with Mr. Mourinho. I would love to have a pre-season with him and learn a lot from him. But from every match Real Madrid play, you can learn things and come to conclusions that Jose Mourinho is the best, not far compared to the other ones, but he is the best. Although Pep Guardiola at Barcelona is also doing a great job."