Qatar sack Lazaroni after crashing out

Doha: Brazilian Sebastian Lazaroni became the first to lose his job at the 12th Arab Games when he was sacked as head coach of host Qatar's national football team following their exit from the first round of the football competition.

Lazaroni was held responsible for the defensive mistakes the team committed in the first match against Bahrain, in which they led 2-0 in the first half before allowing their opponents to come back and level the score.

Bahrain then beat Iraq 3-0, which left the Qataris needing to defeat Iraq 4-0 to go through — but they could only manage a goalless draw as both teams crashed out of the competition.

Critics said Lazaroni failed to read the Bahrain match correctly, especially in the second half, and all his tactical changes and substitutes were wrong and made the Bahrainis' task easier.

Jorge Fossati, the head coach of Al Sadd, became the favourite to lead Qatar for the remainder of the Asian qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup after his brilliant results with his Qatari club.