‘Focused’ Qatar ready for formidable Iran in battle to reach Asian Cup final

A ‘focused’ Qatar are feeling ready to deliver their best performance today when they take on three-time champions Iran in the semi-final of the AFC Asian Cup 2023.
The defending champions are on a 12-match unbeaten streak in the region’s premier national team tournament that has now reached the final phase.
Coach Marquez Lopez, who is barely seven weeks into his new job, has given a clear message to his players: enter the Al Thumama Stadium with the intention of winning what many predict will be a feisty last-four clash.
“We always play to win and that will be what we’ll be doing (against Iran),” Lopez said confidently on Tuesday at a pre-match news conference. “There’s no talk about trying to take this match into penalties,” the 59-year-old added. Qatar edged Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals in a heart-stopping penalty shootout in their previous match.
Lopez seemed buoyant at the news conference knowing he has his strike force of Akram Afif, captain Hasan al-Haydos and Almoez Ali available for selection for the match tonight.
The three players so far have combined to score eight goals in the 24-team tournament.
“Of course we enter this match with big motivation, we are one step away from the final. We have a chance to reach a second straight final which is a big driving factor for us,” Lopez said.
“The players performed well in the previous matches and are extremely focused on continuing the winning streak,” the Qatar coach said in reference to his side’s wins over Lebanon, China, Tajikistan, Palestine and Uzbekistan on way to reaching the semi-finals.
Qatar produced seven consecutive wins at the 2019 edition when they won the AFC Asian Cup title with a 3-1 win over Japan in the final.
“We are one step away from reaching the final match of the Asian Cup (again). We are excited about the match and look forward to giving our best. We will give our best,” he added.
“We recognise that it’s going to be a very tough match,” Lopez added. “It’s our sixth game in a short period, so that will be physically demanding but we are still hopeful of a good performance.
“Iran is a very strong team. We have not underestimated any team we have played in this competition so we will not start doing that against Iran,” he said.
“The attack of Iran is very strong and we are aware of this. We have plans for that and we will try to minimise their quality up front. We will be playing in front of our fans so that makes this match special,” the coach said.
Coach Ardeshir Ghalehnoy said he told Iran players to forget beating four-time champions Japan in the quarter-finals three days ago.
“We know that tomorrow’s match is very important. All that we did until now is to reach the final match,” Ghalehnoy said at a news conference on Tuesday.
“I told the players to forget the Japan match, what is important now is to beat Qatar and reach the final. We know they are a good team, the defending champions and have spent a lot to improve the team,” he added.
“Sometimes you have bad performances, sometimes you have good performances but we’ve only had good performances so far. Even against Japan, we didn’t concede a lot of chances. We may make changes for the game but the level of the team is almost the same, so the quality of the starting XI will not be affected. Tactics that we make in every match, 70%-80% are related to the strength of our team and the balance related to the opponent,” Ghalehnoy said.
The Iranian coach acknowledged that his side is up against a strong Qatar squad.
“Qatar reaching this stage means they are high quality. We cannot keep looking at the Japan result and think that will take us through,” Ghalehnoy said on Tuesday. “We have to be more concentrated, show more quality and cover more distance. With all that, I hope that we can reach the final for the first time in a long time,” he added.
“You can see from (Mehdi) Taremi’s reaction in the last two games and see how united we are as a team and how much we want to do well in this competition,” he warned.
Taremi, who plays for FC Porto, will return today to add muscle to the Iran side after a one-game suspension. Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Sardar Azmoun and Saman Ghoddos will be the other concerns for the Qatari side.
The match kicks off at 6:00pm.

Points to remember
Impressive record
Iran have won their last six matches against Qatar, including a 1-0 win in the AFC Asian Cup 2015 group stage. Iran outscored Qatar 11-1 in those six games.

Good run
This will be Iran’s eighth AFC Asian Cup semi-final, the joint-highest with Korea Republic.

Semi-final win overdue
Team Melli, however, have not progressed past the semi-final stage in their last six attempts stretching back to 1980, with Japan defeating them at this stage in the 2019 edition.

Three-time winners
Iran won three consecutive editions between 1968 and 1976, a feat which no other team has managed. A fourth title will draw them level with Japan at the top of the all-time list.

Elite list
Qatar are the ninth team to reach the semi-finals of AFC Asian Cup in two consecutive editions.

Always on target
Qatar have not failed to score a goal in their eight AFC Asian Cup knockout stage games.