Qatar coach happy with team’s big win against Yemen

Qatar coach Felix Sanchez (top right) yesterday said his team delivered ‘a commanding performance’ against Yemen. “It is a great start for my team. This was just what we were looking for when we arrived in Kuwait. This win will give us confidence going into our next game,” the Spaniard said after the match. “In the first 18 minutes, we scored the three goals. Besides those goals, we also created many chances to score more goals. “They pressured us for some time but the players stood firm. We dominated in the first half and then in the second half, they put up a fight. But it was a match that belonged to us. My players showed their intention that they wanted to win this game. I am happy with their attacking game,” Sanchez added. Yemen coach Abraham Mebratu said: “Qatar played quality football and they deserved to win. We got a good lesson today. Hopefully we will learn quickly and get ready for the next match.” He added: “We just had limited time to prepare for this match. We barely had 10 days to get ready for this tournament. But we have to now get ready for the other two matches we still have to play.” Mebratu rued his team’s lack of experience.“In Yemen there is no league and our players lack international experience also. The time was short and we were trying to prepare as best we could. Unfortunately the goals we conceded in the first few minutes changed everything for us.” He added his team did well in the second half. “As you saw we played much better in the second half. That will give us confidence as we still have two matches to play,” Mebratu said. Qatar take on Iraq on Tuesday in their second match while Yemen will battle Bahrain the same day.