*'Players are motivated, hungry to perform'

Qatar coach Felix Sanchez has reposed his confidence in the ability of his players while denying that the performance of the Asian Cup champions has declined recently.

The hosts of the 24th Arabian Gulf Cup will take on Yemen in their second Group A match at the state-of-the-art Khalifa International Stadium on Friday, having suffered a 1-2 loss at the hands of Iraq in the opener on Tuesday.

“I don’t think our performance is dropping. We have played good games after the Asian Cup victory. We have won against Oman, Singapore and Afghanistan in World Cup second round qualifiers in the last two months and played quite well in Copa America,” Sanchez said on the eve of the Yemen match.

The six-match winning streak of the hosts, who currently lead the World Cup Qualifiers Group E with four wins and a draw, came to an end as they were not at their best in the tournament opener against Iraq.

“Even in the first match against Iraq our performance was not that bad. From the word go we were trying to do positive things. We tried to create chances and we had many, but unfortunately we were not effective as we have to be and the result was not in our favour. It happens in football,” he said.

“We are planning different things and step-by-step we will be at our best in terms of the results too. I have no complaints against players. They are trying hard and are motivated and hungry to perform,” the Spaniard said.

He also assured that Al Annabi will come back strong in the next game against Yemen, which is a very important group game for both the teams.

“I am sure tomorrow we are going to play an excellent game. We expect a very competitive game against Yemen. We have to be at our best. I have full confidence in my team and I hope they will be at their best. They have the capability and they are motivated,” he said.

Talking about Bassam al-Rawi’s injury, he said: “We are going to miss him. He is an important player for us. Hopefully his surgery has gone well on Thursday and he will be back soon. We have players to replace him, but definitely he will be missed.”

Al-Rawi suffered a fracture in his right leg in the match against Iraq.

The defender, who had played a key role in Qatar’s maiden Asian Cup title win earlier this year, was injured in a dangerous play with an Iraqi national team player, and was replaced by Salem al-Hajri in the match.


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