Sanchez urges Qatar to go past opening draw today

Qatar head coach Felix Sanchez has urged his players to put aside the late heartbreak they suffered against Syria and focus on winning all three points when they face table-topping Saudi Arabia in Group B of the AFC U-23 Championship today.
After racing into a two-goal lead within the first 22 minutes of their campaign opener, Qatar were eventually forced to settle for a 2-2 draw after Alaa Aldin Dali struck deep into stoppage time to earn his side a share of the spoils.
Despite the last gasp disappointment, Sanchez believes the result will have little or no bearing on proceedings when they face a Saudi side that began their title bid with a win over Japan.
“Obviously it is hard psychologically when you lose two points after leading a match and we cannot be entirely happy with the way we drew with Syria,” explained the Spaniard who guided Qatar’s senior team to glory at last year’s AFC Asian Cup.
“But we have told the players that after the first game we were never going to be through to the next round or out of the competition. In a tournament such as this where there are games every few days, we do not have time to reflect negatively on the result.
“We need to be positive and encourage the squad to remain focused and keep going as we know Uzbekistan lost their opening game in 2018 before going on to win the title so that is a good example for us to take into the next match.”
The encounter with Saudi Arabia represents another tough test for Qatar, one which Sanchez believes will require a different approach from his side.
“Saudi Arabia are a team which likes to dominate,” he said. “They represent another style of football which we will have to compete against. We will need to adapt [our approach] against them but remain intent on doing our absolute best.”
Meanwhile, opposite number Saad al-Shehri is refusing to get carried away by his team’s 2-1 defeat of Japan on Matchday One, insisting instead that they will be taking nothing for granted in their upcoming games against Qatar and Syria.
“We hope we can recover quickly following the game against Japan as we still have two more crucial matches to come in the group,” he said.
“I’m thinking about qualifying for the Olympics because this is our goal and the win [against Japan] was just the first step.
“However, the matches with Qatar and Syria will be extremely important ones for us, maybe more important.”