We are ready to continue our dream: Coach Segrt

Head coach Petar Segrt sees every win as a trophy for his Tajikistan side who face Jordan in the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 quarter-finals at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium on Friday.
The Central Asian nation have been a revelation in the tournament, pipping China to second place in Group A to qualify to the knockout stages on their debut, then going on to defeat the United Arab Emirates on penalties to book a quarter-final date with Jordan.
Tajikistan looked set to win their Round of 16 tie in regular time after Vahdat Hanonov had put them in front, but an added-time equaliser from Khalifa al-Hammadi forced an additional 30 minute and penalties, and Segrt believes his team have already recovered from the herculean effort of that match and are raring to go again.
“We are ready to continue our dream. We live in today, so we are ready to face Jordan,” said Segrt.
“They are a very good team and Hussein Ammouta is a great coach and a great personality, but we will win again, it will be like we won the Asian Cup for the third time; we celebrated like we won the Asian Cup against Lebanon, against the UAE and we will do it again. We are the dark horses of the tournament, and the dark horse is still running.
“Our game against UAE was very strong for 120 minutes. We recovered in the hotel, but now we play with the power that we have.”
The two teams faced off in the joint qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and the AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 in November, with Shahrom Samiev putting Tajikistan ahead in the 89th minute in Dushanbe, but Jordan responded in added time, equalising through Yazan al-Nuaimat.
“Jordan’s game against Iraq was also intense and Jordan were clever and scored twice late. Against us in the qualifiers, we were leading in the 89th minute, and seconds later they scored. They are a smart team that doesn’t give up.”
“I took the pressure from the players in the group stage because it was new for them and they were not ready for this level of pressure, but now after the group stage I cannot take the pressure for them because we are in the last 16 teams and now it is all to play for.
“I’m proud of my players, we are a group like a family and I’m happy to be the leader of this team, but there is too much focus on me now, you should focus on the players because they are the stars.”
Ammouta, a Moroccan international player in the 1990s who played and coached in Qatar before taking the Jordan head coach job in June 2023, believes his side can count on the level of support that propelled his native country into the FIFA World Cup semi-finals in Qatar 13 months ago.
“We are motivated and ambitious to represent ourselves first, this is our responsibility and duty,” said Ammouta. “It is unfortunate that all Arab teams including my country Morocco were eliminated from both the Africa Cup of Nations and the AFC Asian Cup. There is only us and Qatar now, and we know that we get a lot of compassion from Arab fans, we saw that with Morocco during the World Cup.”
“Tajikistan are a tough, organised team who are quick in transitions and have caused us a lot of trouble in the previous game against them. Any team that makes it to the quarter-finals have earned the right to be here.
“It will not be an easy game against a strong opponent which we faced a couple of months ago and drew 1-1. It was a difficult game and we expect the same, especially in a competition like this where all teams are prepared. Our preparations have gone well and morale is high in our dressing room.”
In four previous AFC Asian Cup appearances, Jordan reached the quarter-finals twice, in 2004 and 2007, but have never advanced into the semi-finals, and Ammouta believes his side are well poised to make the next step having prepared well for the Tajikistan clash and seen talented playmaker Noor al-Rawabdeh recover from injury.
“We are about to go into an important match for us, a game that separates us from our first-ever semi-final.
“Yesterday, together with the players, we watched videos of our game against Tajikistan in the qualifiers and their matches in this tournament. We analysed them well, but the most important thing now is to apply the lessons we have learned. Qualifying will be all about the effort you put on the pitch and the discipline we have.
“I’m full of confidence in my players to play a good game and I hope we can be clinical in front of goal and for the whole team to be involved in the defensive side, not just the defenders.”