Upbeat Qatar ready to take on UAE today

GEARING UP: Qatar’s star player Sebastian Soria (R)_seen during a training session with his teammates ahead of their Gulf Cup match against UAE today at the Khalifa Sports City Stadium in Bahrain’s Isa Town. The match starts at 9.15pm Doha time. Inset: Coach Autuori

By Sports Reporter/Manama

Qatar kicks off their 21st Gulf Cup campaign against UAE at the Khalifa Sports City Stadium in Bahrain’s Isa Town today at 9.15pm Doha time.

Apart from Qatar, teams from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Yemen, and Iraq are taking part in the regions biggest football showpiece.

The match against UAE is Qatar’s first of three games in Group A of the prestigious regional competition, which is held every two years, with crunch matches against Oman and Bahrain to follow on Tuesday and Friday.

Group B, which consists of Kuwait, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, will also kick-off today, with subsequent fixtures to be played on Wednesday and Sunday.

The top two teams from each group will progress to the January 15 semi-finals, while the final will be played on January 18.

Qatar has won the Gulf Cup twice previously in 2004 and 1992. The team is ready for the challenge, said coach Paulo Autuori after a training session here yesterday.

“I would like to thank all my staff and the players who have worked extremely hard in getting ready for this tournament,” Autuori said in his first press conference.

“We are facing a top side (in UAE) but we are ready for this challenge. I think we have the ability and skill to take on this tough assignment. We will do our best to provide the best of football and win,” he added.

Autuori was confident that the tournament will show the world that Arab football is not lacking behind.  

“I think this event will show the level of football in the Middle East. The world will see a good level of the game”.

As far as the tournament goes, Autuori revealed that he and his team would be looking to settle for nothing less than a win.

“Of course we will be playing to win but we can’t say how the match will be played. The win is the only option we will go for. We are taking one game at a time. Every team here is dreaming of reaching the final.

“However there is a difference between reality and dreams. It is a difficult task and challenge. We will seek to be really competitive in this tournament in every match.”

Coach was also pleased with the team he had choose for the tournament and was confident that he and his team can deliver the goods despite dropping Hamid Isamail.  

“I am responsible for the choice of players you see on the pitch and I’m the first to explain the reasons for exclusion of a player directly. So there’s no need to talk about it again,” asserted Autuori.

For UAE coach Mahdi Ali, the Gulf Cup will be the first competitive test, having previously led the UAE’s under-23 side to the Olympic Games for the first time in the nation’s history last year.

Since the Gulf Cup’s inception in 1970, the UAE have only won the tournament once — in 2007. But with the crux of the 2010 Under-23 Gulf Cup-winning squad filtering into Ali’s senior team after their Olympic debut last year, there’s cautious hope of the UAE reclaiming the title.

Under Ali, the UAE’s senior team has won recent friendlies against regional rivals convincingly. They beat Kuwait 3-0, Bahrain 6-2 and Yemen 3-1 and 2-0 in the latter half of last year, but now Ali faces the unenviable task of balancing the expectations of the fans with the endurance of his players, who will play vital 2015 Asian Cup qualifiers against Uzbekistan, Hong Kong and Vietnam from next month.

 “Frankly, winning the Gulf Cup was not one of our priorities. We, the UAE FA and the technical and administrative staff of the national team, have set our priorities as reaching the finals of the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia and the finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. But we realise the importance of the Gulf Cup and we will be doing our best to compete for the title,” said Ali adding, “We aspire to provide a good level of football and we hope the team gets adequate preparation to help us put on an honourable display. We hope to give a performance that satisfies the supporters.

“It’s not necessarily a priority or preference to win the ­title, but it is important to play in an honourable manner.

“All the games are likely to be strong and equal and there will be no easy games.”

Asked about which group is stronger, bearing in mind that Group B includes teams that have won 16 of the 20 titles — Kuwait (10) and Saudi Arabia and Iraq (three each) — Ali said: “The teams of the first group Group A are almost of the same standard, which makes it difficult and more competitive and unpredictable, but in the other Group B there are clear favourites to reach the semi-finals.”

Qatar squad: Qasem Burhan, Baba Malik, Rajab Hamza, Massad Hamad, Bilal Mohammed, Mohammed Kasola, Mahdi Ali, Marconi, Ibrahim Majid, Abdul Karim

Hassan, Younis Ali, Wisam Rizk, Talal Al Balushi, Lawrence Quaye, Hassan Al Haidoos, Khalfan Ibrahim, Abdulaziz Hatem, Ali Hassan Afif, Sebastian Soria, Mohammed Razak, Jarallah al-Marri, Yusuf Ahmed, Mohamed Al Sayed.

Coach: Paulo Autuori. Manager: Abdulrahman al-Mahmod.

FIXTURES

Group A: Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, UAE

Group B: Kuwait, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Yemen

(Kick-offs in UAE time, local time is one hour behind)

Group stage

Jan 5 — Bahrain vs Oman, 8.15pm at Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa (NS); Jan 5 — Qatar vs UAE, 10.15pm at Khalifa Sports City, Isa Town (KS); Jan 6 — Kuwait vs Yemen, 5.15pm at KS; Jan 6 — KSA vs Iraq, 8.15pm at KS; Jan 8 — Qatar vs Oman, 5.15pm at NS; Jan 8 — Bahrain vs UAE, 8.15pm at NS; Jan 9 — Iraq vs Kuwait, 5.15pm at KS; Jan 9 — Yemen vs KSA, 8.15pm at KS; Jan 11 — UAE vs Oman, 6.45pm at KS

Jan 11 — Bahrain vs Qatar, 6.45pm at NS; Jan 12 — Kuwait vs KSA, 6.45pm at NS; Jan 12 — Iraq vs Yemen, 6.45pm at KS

Semi-finals: Jan 15 — A1 vs B2, 5.45pm at NS; Jan 15 — B1 vs A2, 8.45pm at NS

Third place play-off: Jan 18 — LSF1 vs LSF2, 4.30pm at KS

Final: Jan 18 — WSF1 vs WSF2, 6.45pm at NS

PREVIOUS WINNERS 

2010 —                        Kuwait

2009 —                       Oman

2007 —                       UAE

2004 —                       Qatar

2003 —                       Saudi Arabia

2002 —                       Saudi Arabia

1998 —                        Kuwait

1996 —                        Kuwait

1994 —                        Saudi Arabia

1992 —                        Qatar

1990 —                        Kuwait

1988 —                         Iraq

1986 —                        Kuwait

1984 —                         Iraq

1982 —                         Kuwait

1979 —                        Iraq

1976 —                        Kuwait

1974 —                         Kuwait

1972 —                         Kuwait

1970 —                        Kuwait