Al Ain coach also lashes at international break for Gyan's below-par performance in Ahli defeat

By Ameenu Shardow, follow on Twitter @alooameenu

Al Ain coach Quique Sanchez Flores is the next to blame the international break for his team’s defeat against Al Ahli – saying stars like Asamoah Gyan were rusty on the day.

The Boss lost 1-0 to city rivals in the big derby in the Arabian Gulf League on Sunday.

The game was played just days after the international break – with national team players returning with mixed feelings after the final round of matches in the 2014 World Cup playoffs.

And Quique Flores believes most of his international legions played below par in the defeat to Ahli.

Ghana captain Asamoah Gyan in particular failed to hit his usual heights when playing in such crucial matches.

The new 28-year-old had days earlier played the entire duration in helping Ghana qualify for the World Cup despite a 2-1 defeat to Egypt last Tuesday.

But just like Schalke coach Jens Keller frustratingly lashed out, Al Ain coach Quique Flores in a more subtly manner blames his side’s slump over the weekend to his tired returning internationals.

“I think regaining physical balance is a hard matter in a short period as they were back just a few days to the match,” he said.

“And throughout the match you can see the closing distances from both sides helped no one of the players to show the real abilities they have like [Asamoah] Gyan, Omar Abdulrahman, Alex, Diaky, Grafite, Al Hamadi and others.”

The clubs can now breathe easily with no official competitive matches in sight all through until next year’s World Cup in Brazil.

National teams all over are expected to give players a rare break throughout the Christmas and New Year festivities before resuming normal duties tentatively from February next year where feverish preparations towards the World Cup is expected to begin.