Coach Felix Sanchez gestures during Qatar’s opening match in the 24th Arabian Gulf Cup against Iraq on Tuesday.
Hosts Qatar will come back strongly in their next match of the 24th Arabian Gulf Cup, assured coach Felix Sanchez after the opening match loss on Tuesday.
The Asian Cup holders lost their opening match 2-1 to Iraq in the Group A in the regional championship at the Khalifa International Stadium.
The hosts thus are keen to bounce with a vengeance in their match against Yemen tomorrow to keep their chances alive of qualifying for the semi-finals.
The top two teams from each of the two groups will feature in the semi-finals.
“We tried and did things but everything did not go as we planned,” said Sanchez, the Spanish coach of Qatar team.
“We have to prepare for the next game, we will do the best for our fans,” he said.
“We will continue to work hard, our group is strong, surely we will be stronger in the second game, the Qatar coach added.
Sanchez missing lot of scoring chances undid all the good work.
“We had a good start, we took control of the match but we missed a lot of chances to score,” he said.
“It was a difficult game, in the second half we scored early but then we were unable to score, loss is possible, this is football that everyone knows,” he added.
Meanwhile, Iraq’s Slovenian coach Strijko Katanic was delighted to begin the Gulf Cup campaign on a winning note.
“At the start of the game we were not good and we had a lot of pressure. But that is how football is. When you create more opportunities, you get goals and that what happened. We scored and looked for the second goal and found it in time,” he said.
“At the beginning of the second half we conceded a goal at a crucial time and make some changes and those worked. We were lucky that Qatar missed opportunities in front of the goal.”
“We played under difficult circumstances and it is known to all. We have to look forward to the future and we should be ready. We have made a good start but nothing has been resolved. We have to concentrate on the next two games.”
Katanic stressed that the Qatari team was not bad, describing their performance as strong and praised their coach Sanchez.
