Buoyant Qatar ready for Asian Cup 2019, says coach Sanchez

Qatar head coach Felix Sanchez said that the players are raring to go as they enter the final stage of preparations for the AFC Asian Cup, which will be held from January 5 to February 1 in the UAE.Qatar will play friendlies against Jordan and Kyrgyzstan on December 23 and 25 and will face Algeria and Iran on December 27 and 31 in Doha before they leave for UAE for the Continental showpiece. Qatar are in Group E of the competition alongside Lebanon, DPR Korea, and Saudi Arabia. The Maroons will face Lebanon in their first match on January 9. Al Annabi then take on North Korea on 13 and Saudi Arabia on 17. Only two teams from each group will qualify for the knockout stage.Sanchez said: “The four friendly matches will be a good opportunity to prepare the players. I have several players to choose from the preparatory camp and I will wait till the friendly matches to decide on the final squad.”Sanchez’s men are in good form going into the Asian Cup, having won four of the six friendly matches in the last few months. They beat China, Palestine, Ecuador and Switzerland and tied with Iceland. Their only loss came against Uzbekistan.On his team’s ambition at the Asian Cup, the Spaniard said: “Every team goes into any competition eyeing the title. The Qatari team’s goal is no different. I know Qatari fans have big hopes from the current batch of players and I hope we can deliver. Having said that we are in a tough group, and all the teams deserve the respect.”Last week Sanchez had announced a 27-player training squad, which will be trimmed to a final 23 after the Al Annabi camp and friendlies.Qatar provisional squad Goalkeepers: Saad al-Sheeb, Youssef Hassan, Mohamed al-Bakri, Jassim al-Hail, Yazen NaimDefenders: Bassam Hisham, Sultan al-Brake, Hamed Ismail, Boualem Khoukhi, Tariq Salman, Abdelkareem al-Ali, Pedro Miguel, Mohamed Alaa, Abdul Karim Hassan, Ali Afif, Mohamed MusaMidfielders: Salim al-Hajri, Assem Madbo, Karim Boudiaf, Ali Awad, Ahmed Fathy, Abdulrahman Fahmy, Abdulaziz HatemForwards: Hassan al-Haydous, Akram Afif, Almoez Ali, Ahmed Alaa.