Qatar’s under-23 team will have to raise their game a notch in order to beat Syria today and book a ticket to China for the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship.
The hosts were below-par in their previous two matches but got away with victories over Turkmenistan and India to top the table with six points. At the Al Sadd stadium today, Felix Sanchez’s men would need just a draw in their final Group C qualifying match, but Syria, who need to a win for direct qualification, will not be pushovers.
Yesterday, Qatar struggled to find their rhythm as India put up a spirited performance. Sanchez was left frustrated on the touchline as his team were lucky to take all three points from the game after an error from India’s goalkeeper. After the match, Sanchez reminded his team that the job is not done and they will have to pull up their socks against a tough Syrian side.
“It was a tough match against India. We didn’t play to our expectations, but we scored the only goal of the match and defended well. The last game against Syria will be equally difficult as they’re a pretty good side, We hope to qualify for China. We’ll do our best,” said Sanchez.
“The India match was a good lesson for us to play well against Syria. It was a very tough game. We didn’t feel comfortable in the first half. We failed to get behind our opponents, but if you evaluate the 90 minutes, we were the team who deserved to win,” added the Spaniard. Syria drew goalless against Turkmenistan on Saturday, leaving them requiring all three points against Qatar today. With teams playing three matches in five days, Syria coach Hussein Afash felt fatigue will be a factor.
“We were under pressure against Turkmenistan because every second day, there is a match and it affected the players. After playing a strong first match against India, we were back on the field,” Afash said.
“We tried to score in the first half, but we lost many chances and I hope we will not regret this result in the future. We must now perform against Qatar and it won’t be easy,” he added
In the evening’s first match, Turkmenistan will be looking for a win against India, to keep their chances of qualification. Turkmenistan, who have a point, can still qualify for the main event if they beat India by big margin and Syria lose to Qatar.
While only group winners will automatically qualify for the AFC U-23 Championship, the five best runners-up across all groups will also make the tournament. However, if hosts China win their group or are among the best five runners-up, the sixth best runners-up will also qualify.
Meanwhile, Indian coach Stephen Constantine lavished praise for the ‘strong determination’ shown by his boys, even though they are out contention.
Constantine said: “I am really proud of my boys, some of whom have played the International Football for the first time today (against Qatar). At least, they deserved not to lose this game but again we lost because of another silly mistake.”
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