The Emir Cup tournament will kick off today with Mesaimeer locking horns with Al Ahli at the Suheim bin Hamad Stadium. In another first round match today, Qatar Sports Club will take on Al Wakrah at 8pm.
The Emir Cup is the most prestigious domestic football tournament and brings down the curtains on the nine-month long football season in Qatar. The event offers a chance for lower division teams to test their mettle against the big guns as they bid to qualify for the final at the Khalifa Stadium on May 19.
The top four QNB Stars League teams – Al Duhail, Al Sadd, Al Rayyan and Al Gharafa will kick off their campaigns directly from the quarter-final stage of the competition, where they will be joined by four other teams who will have to work their way up from rounds one and two.
Second division teams will seek to capture the spotlight from top-flight outfits although that usually proves a tall order as the gulf in class is far too obvious.
Today, Al Ahli will be keen to make up for the disappointment in the QNB Stars League, where they finished ninth. It won’t easy against Mesaimeer for Al Ahli though, with cup games traditionally a difficult one to call and can swung in one way or the other in few moments of magic.
Ahli coach Youssef Ahmed said his players were ready for the tournament. 
“Our goal will definitely be to win the tournament, despite the absence of our key players Ahmed Fouad and Shikhawi. But at the same time we have a large number of young players who are capable of filling up for their experienced teammates,” he said on the match eve yesterday.
On Mesaimeer, Al Ahli’s opponents, he said: “We know our opponents very well and will impose our style during the game in order to win. Our aim is to qualify for the final.”
On the other hand, Mesaimeer coach Dragan Tadek said his team will have a difficult task against Al Ahli and was hoping for a surprise victory.  
“We are well prepared and we are aware that we will face a very strong team with excellent players. But we have studied our opponents well and know their weak and strong points. We will try to exploit weaknesses to win,” Tadek said.
Meanwhile, Qatar SC is gunning for their first appearance in the Emir Cup final since 2004. Once a formidable team, Qatar SC has fallen down the ladder and is hoping to repeat the magic of 2004, when they lost to Al Rayyan in the final.
Ahead of today’s first round match against Al Wakrah, Qatar SC coach Abdullah Mubarak said his team is looking forward to the tournament and have been sweating out in training for the last ten days.
“It’s a prestigious tournament and it’s every player’s and the club’s ambition to reach the final. In a cup game, it’s not necessary that the strongest team will win the match. The team that adapts well will go on to win the tournament. Our preparations have been excellent and we have all the players ready for the match against Wakrah,” he said yesterday.
Al Wakrah coach Marquez Lopez praised Qatar SC and described their rivals as an organised team with excellent players. However, he hoped that his team will take advantage of any mistakes made by Qatar SC players.
Lopez conceded his players are still hurting from their loss to Al Kharaitiyat in the play-offs last week, which meant they missed out on a place in the next season’s QNB Stars League. The play-off was between the 11th-placed team in the QNB Stars League and Second Division runners-up, and Al Wakrah failed in their pursuit to get a promotion.
Lopez said: “My players were heartbroken after the lost in the play-offs. But it’s not in past. We want to show how good a team we are. We will be going into the Emir Cup with confidence and believing in our capabilities.”  
After today’s two first-round matches, two more matches are scheduled for tomorrow.  Al Markhiya will clash with Al Shamal, while Al Kharaitiyat take on Al Shahania.


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