Former FC Barcelona defender Frank de Boer blamed the weather after losing the Abu Dhabi Derby with Al-Jazira to Pitso Mosimane’s Al Wahda FC.
De Boer, a former LaLiga winner with Barcelona, who represented the Netherlands over 200 times as player, has had an up and down coaching career so far.
After winning four Eredivisie titles with Ajax Amsterdam, he was only in charge of 14 games at Inter and five of Crystal Palace in the Premier League before twice being shown the door.
He somewhat regained his reputation after winning two trophies in the Major League Soccer with Atlanta United, which earned him a job as Netherlands head coach. But again, he didn’t survive long and was sacked after nine months in June 2021.
In June this year, he joined Al-Jazira in the United Arab Emirates and – similar to Mosimane – was on the sidelines for his first Abu Dhabi Derby on Friday. But de Boers’ Al-Jazira lost 2-1 to Mosimane’s Al Wahda, which left the Dutch coach frustrated.
“The flow of the game doesn’t reflect the result,” he said after the match, as per Kingfut.
“We didn’t lose because we were the worst, and Al-Wahda didn’t win because they were the best.
“Al-Wahda took advantage of our poor handling of set pieces to score their two goals, and the weather affected the overall performance of both teams.
“Although I don’t like playing in such tough weather conditions, I understand the perspective of the organizers of the UAE Pro League, and I believe that the match referee didn’t add enough injury time.”
The result leaves both teams on three points from their first two UAE Pro League matches, with Al Wahda now facing Emirates Club on Wednesday.
