Mohammed Kwid established Al Karama as one of Asia's most competitive clubs

By R. Ravi Kumar

Mohamed Kwid’s move to UAE lightweights Al Dhafrah marks the end of a significant chapter in Syrian football which saw unheralded Al Karama explode onto the Asian scene under his tutelage and establish themselves as a power to reckon with.

Not since the 1995-96 season had the football fans of Homs held a victory parade when Al Karama pushed Hottain into second place to lay their hands on the coveted league trophy - and this was after 1983!

Similar success in the years to follow proved difficult to emulate, forcing Al Karama to play second fiddle to the formidable Al Jaish with a series of frustrating runners-up finishes.

But this despondency turned to optimism nearly a decade later when the job went to the homegrown Kwid - he was raised in a Homs orphanage - with the simple brief of restoring the club to its former glory.

The ambitious trainer had by then a respectable track-record, embellished in neighbouring Lebanon where he led Al Ahed to a league and cup double in 2004 which also earned him the reins of the Lebanese national team.

Whatever skepticism lingered over the appointment quickly vanished once Kwid hunkered down to work in his no-nonsense style, and the results were quick in coming, winning back the fans’ trust. The league title was the first to be crammed into the trophy cabinet, followed by a league and cup double for the next two seasons, firmly establishing Al Karama as the club to beat on the domestic circuit.

The wily Kwid also masterminded the club’s continental foray with a brilliant performance in the 2006 AFC Champions League when they slayed reigning champions Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia enroute to a place in the final against Jeonbuk Motors. They lost narrowly to the Koreans but the corner had been finally turned and Al Karama’s star was on the ascendant.

The uncompromising Syrian tactician, who relies on his personal charisma as well as meticulous planning to inspire his charges, proved that Al Karama’s success was not a flash in the pan by steering them to the knockout stage of the AFC Champions League in 2007 and this year too.

Kwid’s awe-inspiring leadership of the Homs side saw the country’s football chiefs looking to him increasingly to manage the fluctuating fortunes of the national team and he did not disappoint, pulling Syria out of their morass and putting World Cup qualification within touching distance.

However, they tripped at the last hurdle against the UAE and this prompted a post-mortem which ultimately led to Kwid parting ways acrimoniously.

Kwid’s time at Al Karama ran out when he vociferously objected to the club’s refusal to renew the contracts of several key players. When the management refused to budge, Kwid stepped down in a blaze of publicity and, not surprisingly, was immediately besieged by coaching offers.

Al Dhafrah, Kwid’s new club, are pure lightweights in comparison to Al Karama. The Abu Dhabi-based club were promoted from the lower division last year but their existence in the top-flight has been perilous at best.

Kwid will need to turn around a club which finished 10th among 12 teams and missed relegation by a whisker, into a lean and mean fighting machine to hold its own among the likes of Al Wahda, Al Ain, Al Shabab and others.

Al Dhafrah could prove to be Kwid’s most daunting challenge yet. But who ever thought a little-known club from Homs would end up in the AFC Champions League final?