Qatar stay focused as spot in Asian U23 final beckons

Qatar will have to banish the memory of their semi-final loss to SouthKorea in the semi-finals of the Asian U23 Championship in Doha two yearsago when they take on Vietnam for a spot in the final of this year’sedition in China.Playing in front of their home crowd two years ago, Qatar fell to a 3-1defeat against the Koreans and then failed to secure the third spotfollowing a 2-1 loss to Iraq.The back-to-back defeats ended Qatar’s hopes of qualifying for theOlympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, something that still rankles captainAhmed Moein, who has been a star performer in the current tournament.Now with only 90 minutes separating Al Annabi from a place in the final,Moein is understandably eager to avoid a repeat of their Dohadisappointment.“At the last AFC U23 Championship we finished fourth, and we are in thesemi-finals again,” said the talented 22-year-old midfielder. “This time we have to do better than we did then, and qualify for thefinal and hopefully become champions. We are very motivated for thisgame (against Vietnam), and we hope to keep doing as well as we havealready done in the four games we have played so far.” Felix Sanchez’s side are, however, flying high once again in China, andenter the game against their Southeast Asian opponents with four wins totheir name following a perfect group stage campaign, and a dramatic 3-2quarter-final defeat of Palestine. Sanchez believes Qatar, whilst more than aware of the threat posed byVietnam, must focus their own game, one that has seen them record foursuccessive wins on their way to the semi-finals.“We have watched all the games in the competition, and we know howVietnam have been playing,” explained the Spaniard, who guided Qatar tothe 2014 AFC U-19 Championship. They are an organised team, and theyhave very talented players. But we are going to try to play in our wayand stop them doing what they usually do so well.“In this type of (knockout) game, the small details are going to be veryimportant, and that you can pay a big price for small mistakes.“Hopefully, we can be effective in all the things that we know that wehave to do well, and be organised enough not to allow Vietnam to play totheir strengths.” Vietnam head coach Park Hang-seo meanwhile said that the pressure iscontinuing to mount on his team when they take the field against Qatar.Park’s young charges have made headlines around the world following acreditable second-place finish in Group D, and then a nail-bitingpenalty shootout success which saw them beat Iraq in the quarter-finals.With an appearance in the tournament’s final only 90 minutes away, Parkinsists that the tournament’s surprise package now have just as much tolose as their more experienced opponents.“After our opening (group stage) game against Korea Republic, we immediately felt the pressure,” he said.“We know Qatar are a very strong team and that Tuesday’s match isobviously key to reaching the final. Because of that, the game has equalimportance for both teams, and the pressure is as much on us as itQatar.”