Qatar aim to thrill at Asian Cup

By Suman Malla/Doha

Qatar coach Bruno Metsu directs a training session yesterday

Qatar’s football team and local organisers have promised an entertaining Asian Cup 2011 which begins today with the hosts taking on Uzbekistan at the Khalifa International Stadium.
The match kicks off at 7.15pm and will be preceded by a grand opening ceremony. The gates will open for spectators at 3pm.
Dealing with home pressure will be the top priority for Bruno Metsu’s Qatar going into today’s tournament opener against their Central Asian Group A rivals.

READY FOR BATTLE: Qatar’s Bilal Mohamed (front) attends a training session for the Asian Cup at the Khalifa Stadium in Doha yesterday. Qatar will take on Uzbekistan in the first match of the tournament today

"The pressure on our team is very high, especially as Qatar won the rights to host the World Cup in 2022. The players want to show something to Qatar and to the world,” said coach Bruno Metsu.
The Frenchman’s faith in his line-up is unwavering as Qatar aim to win their first Asian Cup trophy.
"We’ll try our best to minimise the pressure and play a good match,” said Metsu, who famously led Senegal to the last eight in the 2002 World Cup and guided the UAE to their maiden Gulf Cup title more recently in 2006.
The 56-year-old said he expected fans to turn out in large numbers to cheer the team. "The fans want us to go out and perform well and make them proud of us – and that’s what we want,” said Metsu, calling on his team’s faithful to lend support like they did in the team’s 2-1 friendly win over African champions Egypt.
"The fans played a big role in the match,” he said. "Our players need to play a strong, good game to win as this is an important opening match.”
Metsu is likely to start Sebastien Soria with Hussain Yasser in attack, with Fabio Cesar pulling the strings from the midfield.
It will be the second meeting in the Asian Cup and eighth overall between the two sides, with Uzbekistan holding a 3-2 edge over Qatar.
When reminded of Qatar’s forgetful 4-0 drubbing in Tashkent during the qualifying campaign for the World Cup, Metsu said that his side had undergone a major change and have improved much since.
"It’s a completely different team. Only two of the players from that game are in the squad now,” he said.
His Uzbek counterpart, Vadim Abramov, noted Qatar’s strong attacking line but said they had come to the tournament well prepared.
"We are satisfied with our preparations,” said Abramov, who took his team to Tunisia for a training camp. Now the Uzbeks are aiming to better their previous best record of twice reaching the quarter-finals in the last two editions.
"We want to show a great match to every spectator. We want to show that Asian football is at a high level now,” he added. "Our expectation is to win the tournament like all other teams.”
Abramov will be counting on his striker Server Djeparov who was named Best Uzbek Player of 2010. "Indeed, he is our ace player and a lot will depend on how he performs in the match,” he said.
With almost 2000 media personnel pouring in from different corners of the world, the 16-team tournament will serve as a barometer to test Qatar’s ability to host the World Cup in 2022.
But the organisers are confident that the amount of effort they have put into the preparations will meet or even exceed all expectations.
"Qatar has proved it is a leading sporting venue. Indicators are already obvious that we are doing very well,” said Issa Mohammed al-Ishaq, QLOC deputy director of Communications and Marketing, referring to AFC president Mohammed bin Hammam’s remarks that Qatar’s Asian Cup "will be the best ever in the tournament’s history.”
"We will try to give the best environment for the playing teams as well as keep the fans entertained for the next 21 days,” said al-Ishaq, pointing to a number of cultural events that the QLOC has lined up at various locations in the country on the sidelines of the tournament.