Expect more surprises: Qatar coach ahead of Oman match

Qatar’s head coach Luis Garcia has promised more surprises in his line-up when his side take on Oman in their second match at the Arabian Gulf Cup in Kuwait today at 5:25pm. Garcia – who replaced Marquez Lopez earlier this month – said prior to the opening 1-1 draw with UAE on Saturday that star player Akram Afif would not be playing, but his captain not only started, he scored his side’s goal from the penalty spot. “I can only say that Akram is always ready to help the national team,” said Garcia at the pre-match press conference held yesterday. “We will see what happens. There will be new players on the pitch.”
Garcia said it was important to bring new players into the side because “football never stops” and added that every player was fighting for their place to ensure the future of the national side is bright.
Asian champions Qatar went some way to avenging a 5-0 defeat to UAE in the World Cup qualifiers last month with the draw, and he believes they can look forward with more confidence, starting with today’s match at the Jaber al-Mubarak International Stadium.
“Every game is different, but we try to focus only on our team,” he said. “We always try to get the victory and be better with the ball. We have a very good team spirit which is very important. But we need to play calmer. The last game was not easy after the 5-0 defeat to the same team. We have some new players. But, I am sure we can make one another step forward in this match.
“We can only promise hard work from our side. The players will give everything. There is no one staff member who can promise results. Football is a game with mistakes. We have to solve the mistakes and do less of them, and be better for the next game. The team is ready to do something good and build up from the back and to try to play good football, because I love to play good football.
“Oman is a very difficult match. They are a dynamic team with fast players. We have to take care when we are attacking to be balanced on the transition. It will be a very tough match.”
Meanwhile, Oman’s head coach is hoping that star playmaker Salaah al-Yahyaei will be fit for their crucial match against Qatar. Oman drew 1-1 with hosts Kuwait in Saturday’s opening game, coming back from a goal down to earn a point for a four-way tie at the top in Group A.
It makes the second round of matches even more intriguing with Oman coach, Rasheed Jaber, saying his players will be approaching the match with tougher mental strength. “With all four teams on a point it makes tomorrow’s match even more important,” said Jaber.
“We know where we need to improve going into the final third and with the players’ decision making. We want to improve the players’ reading of the match and achieve a good result to take the pressure off going into the third and final group match.”
Jaber said that he hopes al-Yahyaei will play a part in the match after reporting back to training following injury, adding that it is important to have his best players available against Qatar.
“Qatar are a very good football team, the champions of Asia, but the Gulf Cup is different as last night’s Bahrain win over Saudi Arabia (3-2) showed,” he said. “We hope to have Salaah fit because he is a very important player to us. But I can promise our fans that we will do our very best to make them happy and go as far as we can in this tournament. We are very confident in our players.”
Meanwhile, Kuwait head coach Juan Pizzi was confident that his side can upset tournament favourites UAE to boost their chances of reaching the semi-finals.
The host nation faces an in-form UAE, who, like Kuwait, were held to a 1-1 draw in their opening match of the tournament.
“I won’t be making any promises that we will win over the UAE, but we will be trying our best to seek it,” said Pizzi. “Saturday showed just how much the crowd is behind us and we really appreciated the support. We have a squad of 26 players, including those who are injured, but I have an idea who will be participating in this match.”
UAE head coach Paulo Bento played down his side’s favourites tag by saying that they expect a tough game against Kuwait. Bento said that “being called favourites doesn’t help our preparation”, with all to play for in Group A with all four teams sitting on a point.
“Being called favourites doesn’t help our preparation, at least I don’t think much on that,” said Bento. “I said previously that it is not important to be favourites or not in this competition as anything can happen. I don’t feel more pressure because of it. We make our normal preparation but I cannot control the expectation and opinions of other people. This is my first time as a coach in this competition which is a challenge, but on the other hand we as a technical staff already have experience in the World Cup, Euros and Asian Cup. It’s a challenge because it is the first time for us and we have short times between matches to prepare the team.”