Olaroiu blames fatigue for shock President's Cup exit

Al Ain coach Cosmin Olaroiu blamed a backlog of fixtures for his squad's uncharacteristic 1-0 defeat against Bani Yas in extra-time of the Presidents Cup quarter final at Al Wahda's stadium on Tuesday. Possible Norway-bound January transfer departure Andre Senghor played hero heading home in the 104th minute from a Yousuf Jaber cross to put Bani Yas through to an April 8th all Abu Dhabi semi-final clash with Al Wahda, who had earlier seen off Diego Maradona's flailing Al Wasl 3-2. Olaroiu, who had rested star signing Asamoah Gyan, defended: "From December 4th until now we have played eight games in just five weeks [six league and two cup ties without defeat]. This has created fatigue and my players have become exhausted, it showed in their performance. They are not machines. "The players fought admirably but sadly we didn't take the right chances in front of goal. In the last 15 minutes Bani Yas didn't leave their own penalty area which made it hard for my team to equalize. We will fight in the future for the Etisalat Cup and Pro League and we hope to now succeed with these remaining objectives in our season, having learnt from this experience." Meanwhile Bani Yas coach Gabriel Calderon said: "My team was still hurt after the 3-1 league loss to Al Ahli last Thursday. But they bounced back to show spirit, character and determination to win this cup tie. They are trying really hard to prove to everyone they can achieve something this season and I'm proud of their performance tonight. "We had some players missing therefore we had to change the position of players in midfield. Al Ain has applied a lot of pressure in recent games and they like to put the ball behind the defence if we had played a high defensive line we would have been punished. Because of this we played deeper to counter that threat. By 1-0 we made it our strategy to contain Al Ain and retain the scoreline so we didn't concede an equaliser." In Tuesday's other game Al Wahda beat Al Wasl in Al Ain 3-2 thanks to Fernando Baiano's brace and a double assist from Mahmoud Khamis. Al Wasl's Juan Manuel Olivera struck first heading a cross from a Mohammad Jamal cross on the 47th minute. Baiano netted an identical equalizer two minutes later from Khamis' cross. Khamis supplied again on the 72nd for Mohammad Al Balushi to nod in the freekick and Baiano made it 3-1 on the 88th rounding Majid Nasser from a Hugo through ball. With seconds to spare Olivera added his second on the 91st in what was only a consolation at that late stage. Quarter final results Monday, January 9 Ajman 2-6 Al Jazira Sharjah 3-0 Ittihad Kalba Tuesday, January 10 Al Wasl 2-3 Al Wahda Bani Yas 1-0 Al Ain