Qatar coach Jose Carreno oversees a team training session in Doha yesterday. PICTURE: Anas Khalid
By Joe Koraith/Doha
It’s like going into a battle with your opponent extremely well-versed with all your tricks and tactics. That’s the scenario when Qatar take on China today in their crucial 2018 World Cup qualifying encounter at the Jassim bin Hamad stadium here in Doha.
This Group C encounter is between two teams aiming to finish at the top of the table. Qatar are currently ranked 94th while China are ten places above them. Qatar currently top the group with nine points while China are second with seven. Two teams are ensured automatic qualification but the team finishing first gets the bragging rights.
But the highlight of this encounter is that current China coach Alain Perrin was in Qatar from 2010 to 2013. During that stint he coached Qatar Stars League clubs Al Khor, Al Gharafa and Umm Salal and, more importantly, was at the helm of the Qatar Olympic team for a year. Perrin becomes almost an insider with all that experience. Should the home team be worried? Not at all, believes Qatar coach Jose Carreno. “The Chinese head coach is a much known coach. He has good capabilities and is a very tactical coach. He has a lot of knowledge about Qatari football and also of the players. But he is not among the 11 players that are going to play the match. The result will be decided by the players and the circumstances of the match,” said Carreno during the pre-match press conference yesterday.
Perrin, who was all praise for the time he spent in Qatar, too echoed the sentiment. “I know the teams here very well. I know the players in this team. Some players have played for me when I was the coach. But while it’s easy for a coach to understand and analyse the players, it’s a different story for those actually playing the game. Everybody knows what Ronaldo and Messi are capable of but still players find difficult to handle them,” said the Frenchman yesterday.
The Maroons have won all their matches so far, including a 15-0 thumping of Bhutan and are eager to stamp their supremacy on this group. But with three matches still to go, Carreno believes that this isn’t quite the do-or-die match that it’s being made out to be. “Winning tomorrow’s match is going to be a very important step for Qatar’s qualification for the 2018 World Cup. But this match is not going to be a decisive one at the end of the day. There will be three matches after this one. But we will do our best in the match. Our aim is to do everything we can to qualify,” said Carreno.
“Both teams have all the tools to needed to play a good match. Both teams know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and this will make for a keenly contested encounter,” the Uruguayan added.
Qatar striker Sebastian Soria is expected to make a comeback into the team after recovering from injury and so is Khalfan Ibrahim. And Carreno attributed the high level of football in the QSL for his problem of plenty. “Fortunately the Qatari league is in a very strong position. And this helps the national team. The national team players are doing well with their respective clubs. This gives us the opportunity to get qualified players in the national team. We can avail the services of players like Khalfan Ibrahim, Sebastian Soria, Ibrahim Majid and many others. Those players that are injured will also get their opportunity in other matches. But as a team we are happy to have these many options,” he said.
The match being played at the air-conditioned Al Sadd stadium will also prove to be an influencing factor since the visiting team will not have to worry about the weather. “Players are going to be much more energetic and be able to play better than in the natural weather conditions. I think this is going to be helpful for both teams,” said Carreno.
China coach Perrin joked that if he knew that they would be playing in an air-conditioned stadium, his team wouldn’t have done the training camp in Dubai. But he still believes that home advantage will work in favour of Qatar. “Qatar are playing at home and their fans will get behind the team. It will be difficult to win in Qatar. Players will give more than 100 per cent. I know very well the spirit of the Qatar players. We will have to fight everywhere on the pitch,” he said.
China, who were held to an unlikely draw by Hong Kong, will be eager to prove that they are the best team in this group. And if they needed extra motivation their coach Perrin turned 59 yesterday. He said that his team had cut a cake for him but he’s “waiting for the gift from my players (from this match)”. Game on then.
Other FIXTURES
Korea DPR v Philippines
Timor-Leste v Palestine
Bhutan v Maldives
Kyrgyzstan v Tajikistan
Myanmar v Lebanon
Singapore v Afghanistan
Vietnam v Iraq
Syria v Japan
Turkmenistan v India
Jordan v Australia
Oman v Iran
Kuwait v Korea Republic
Bahrain v Uzbekistan
Saudi Arabia v United Arab Emirates
Cannot predict who will go through, but first you must dream: coaching great Milutinovic
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Qatar-based football coaching great Bora Milutinovic is one of the only two people who have coached five different teams in the World Cup. The other being Carlos Parreira. One of the teams that Milutinovic has coached is China. And the ‘Miracle Worker’, as he’s affectionately called, believes that both ‘his teams’ Qatar and China have a chance to qualify for the finals. But first of all they need to dream, he says. Here are extracts from an interview the Serbian gave to sc.qa.
To complete your handful of coaching appearances at World Cup finals with different teams, you led China to historic qualification for 2002...
I went to China in 2000. It was a country whose National Team had never had meaningful results. They had never been to a World Cup, so it was an extremely interesting experience for me. We managed to qualify without any problems. It was very important for China; on the day of our game against Oman, when we won one-nil and the team qualified, there were 500 million people watching our match on television and in Tiananmen Square there were 1 million people out in the streets. To me, it is unforgettable to be part of the history of a country that I love, which is China.
In the coming World Cup qualifier, your current home country Qatar plays against your other love, China. Can both of them qualify for Russia 2018?
There is Japan, who are coached by one of my countrymen, than you have Korea Republic and Australia; then there is a section that includes the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, who often qualify. But you can never write off Qatar and China. I mean, it will be extremely interesting to see which team manages to do it. It’s difficult, and it’s four teams. Both Qatar and China will get to the next round. After that, normally there are many important factors. You cannot predict who will go through, but first of all you must dream. You must dream. You must prepare yourself well and you must be aware that when you do your best, everything is possible.
