Sanchez will prepare Qatar for their remaining 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Syria and China. But before that, the Spaniard has tough task of ensuring his U-23 team qualify for next year’s AFC U-23 Championship in China 2018.
With the Group C qualifying matches to be held in Doha over the next five days, starting from today, the pressure will be on Sanchez to deliver. However, on the tournament eve, the Spanish coach was calm and composed, confident his team can deliver on the home turf.
“We have been training for the last few weeks for the competition. All the three matches are going to be tough but we are ready in terms of preparation. We want to win all three matches and qualify for the Asian Cup,” said Sanchez in the press conference yesterday.
Qatar will take on Turkmenistan in their opening match today at Al Sadd stadium today, followed by India on Friday and Syria on Sunday. Only group winners will automatically qualify for next year’s main event. The five best runners-up across all groups will also qualify for the finals. However, if hosts China win their group or are among the best five runners-up, the sixth best runner-up will also qualify.
Sanchez, who has been involved with U-23 boys for a long time, having coached them at the U-16 and U-18 level, said his team had the ability to win all three matches and take the direct route to the qualification.
“The boys are very motivated to play these matches. A lot of these players played for Qatar in the under-18 and under-16 age groups and they know what they are going to face. And they are looking forward to playing the first game tomorrow,” he said.
The Qatar coach said his boys were ready after intense preparations which included a few practice matches.
“We have been preparing for these games for the last few weeks and we are looking forward to the qualifiers. These three games are surely going to be tough, but we’ll try to perform well and we’ll try to reach our first objective which is to qualify for the Asian Championships. We have to stay very competitive for that,” said Sanchez.
In the previous edition of the championship held in Qatar, the hosts finished fourth, losing to Iraq in extra-time in the third place play-off. And some of the players who featured in the 2016 tournament, will also be available this time, which will give Qatar much-needed experience of big competitions. Asim Madiboo and Akram Afif again form the core of the team and Sanchez said their experience would be invaluable.
“The boys have performed well last edition but this is a new tournament and we’ve to start from the scratch. It’s time for us to execute our plans on the pitch. There are few players who play in the senior national team. While for the rest it’s an opportunity to show they can also represent the senior team,” Sanchez said.
Turkmenistan are missing few players to injuries but coach Agamyradov Ahmet was hopeful the available squad can spring some surprises in the tournament.
“We have three difficult matches. We have some players who have not travelled because of injuries. But we will try to do well with the players we have,” said Ahmet.
“Qatar has some good players. I have some information and know some of their players. I know Afif is very a good player but there are others too. It will be a good match. They have players with good mentality and it will be a huge challenge for my side,” added the Turkmenistan coach.
Schedule
Today:
India vs Syria at 5pm
Qatar vs Turkmenistan at 8pm
Friday
Turkmenistan vs Syria at 5pm
India vs Qatar at 8pm
Sunday
India vs Turkmenistan at 5pm
Qatar vs Syria at 8pm
(All matches at Al Sadd Sports Club)
