Qatar have never won the West Asia Football Federation (WAFF) Championship for men, but the hosts are confident of winning the silverware in front of the home supporters this time.

Qatar coach DJamel Belmadi believes his side are strong title contenders in the eighth edition of the championship, which commences today, in the absence of defending champions Syria and four-time champion side Iran.

Addressing mediapersons yesterday on the eve of their opening Group A match against minnows Palestine, he said: “All the participating teams are good. Though we have fielded a reserve squad, which has some new faces, I think this is one of the strongest teams in the championship. We have played a good practice game against Bahrain a couple of days back and we are ready for a good show.”

Palestine captain Ramzi Saleh (right) addresses mediapersons yesterday.

 

Belmadi, who guided Lekhwiya to back-to-back Qatar Stars League titles in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons, feels this was the right tournament for them to show their talent and resolve at the international level.

“We have a good young side and hopefully they will perform to our expectations. The tournament is a good opportunity for them to play for the country against some of the top players of the region,” the Algerian added.

Palestine captain Ramzi Saleh too felt that the championship was a good platform for his team before the Challenge Cup, a qualifying tournament for the Asian Cup in Australia.

“To qualify for the Asian Cup is a dream for the players, as well as for the whole nation and we are taking this championship as a testing ground. We know it is a tough tournament, we know our opening match is against a good Qatar side, but we hope to perform well here,” the 33-year-old player said.

Saleh, who has played in all the WAFF championships since 2008, is of the opinion that the tournament could be planned better. “The organisers should study the dates of the continental and regional events and find suitable timings so that participant nations can send their full strength teams for the championship,” he said.

Commenting over their chances against Qatar, he said: “All the teams are good. Qatar are among the title contenders as they are playing before home crowd, but we have confidence in our capabilities and hopefully we will perform well.”

Bahrain, who will take on Oman in a Group B match today, suffered a major blow as star striker Sami al-Hossaini injured himself during an international friendly game against Qatar on Saturday night.

Hossaini, who has a muscle tear in his left foot, will be sidelined for at least 10 days, which means he may only be able to play only if Bahrain qualify for the semi-finals. The semi-finals are scheduled for January 4, followed by the final on January 7.

 

“We are here with a young team and with one big eye on the 2015 Asian Cup and World Cup qualifiers in 2016… so it is a good opportunity for the youngsters, who have never played for the national side. They have a chance to perform against a good opposition in a good tournament,” Bahrain coach Anthony Hudson said.

Oman, who finished third in the last edition, are here to gain some crucial practice ahead of AFC Under-22 championship which they are going to host in Muscat from January 11 to 26.

“Most of our players are from the under-22 squad as we are preparing for the AFC tourney and I think they will get some valuable experience here. We know our first match is against a strong Bahrain team but we are well prepared for the competition and hope we will win against them,” Oman’s assistant coach Haroon Amur said.

Top Arab side Jordan, 70th in the FIFA rankings and sixth among Asian teams, are coming from Dubai after a training camp and will take on Lebanon tomorrow in their opening match.

Jordan’s latest standings came after Jordan played world’s sixth-ranked Uruguay in their intercontinental qualifying tie for a place in the World Cup.

Jordan lost the home game 5-0 and held the former World Cup champs 0-0 in the away match, losing the chance for a first-ever World Cup spot.

Coach Hosam Hassan said, “We aimed to reach the World Cup and despite losing out in the final step we will continue with the same momentum.”

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