Qatari national team goalkeeper Meshaal Barsham on Wednesday admitted the defending champions have a ‘major challenge’ on their hands when they open the defence of the AFC Asian Cup title they won four years ago.
Captained by Hassan al-Haydos, the hosts Qatar open their campaign with a game against Lebanon at Lusail Stadium tomorrow. A total of 24 teams are taking part in the Jan 12-Feb 10 tournament.
“This is my first participation in the Asian Cup finals. I look forward to presenting the best possible level and contributing with my colleagues in maintaining the continental title,” Barsham said in his remarks before the start of the tournament.
“There is no doubt that the task will be difficult. Yes, it will be a major challenge for us but we will do our best to make the fans happy,” he added.
“Holding the tournament in our land and among our fans gives us great motivation to do well. We must show full focus to achieve the desired goal. We feel the presence of our fans gives us great motivation,” he added.
Barsham continued: “All the players have great enthusiasm and desire to make a distinguished appearance in this major continental tournament, which witnesses the participation of the elite Asian teams.
Qatar, coached by Marquez Lopez, will also play matches against China and Tajikistan. The shock axing of Carlos Queiroz as coach last month has thrown their title defence into serious question.
Prior to that, the talk was about how Qatar would right the wrongs of a disappointing early exit from their home World Cup just over a year ago. Qatar’s three straight defeats was the worst performance of any World Cup host in history.
Former Real Madrid and Portugal coach Queiroz took over following the departure of Felix Sanchez, but in early December the Portuguese was sacked and replaced by Tintin Marquez.
Marquez is a familiar face to Qatari fans because he coached Al Wakrah in the domestic league and has a long relationship with football in the Gulf state. Defender Tarek Salman said the change meant the team would need to adapt to a Spanish style, but added: “I think it’s going to fit us and we hope to achieve good things with the coach.”
He insisted that the expectations on the team were not the same as they had been going into the first World Cup in the Middle East.
“Normally you have pressure,” he added, saying that being the current Asian champions would affect the team “in a positive way, not in a negative way”.
Meshaal Barsham
