Sport | Football
Saudi Arabia face Qatar today
Saudi Arabia faces Qatar at 8:30 pm tonight in the second match of the second group in a crucial match which means a great deal for both teams, who are favourites to win the 19th Gulf Cup.
- By Yasir Abbasher, Senior Reporter
- Published: 23:35 January 4, 2009
- Image Credit: Reuters
- Saudi national team coach Nasser Al Johar reacts during the team press conference.
Muscat: Saudi Arabia faces Qatar at 8:30 pm tonight in the second match of the second group in a crucial match which means a great deal for both teams, who are favourites to win the 19th Gulf Cup.
A loss for one of them will mean a big setback in their quest to reach the semi-final round.
Saudi Arabia, one of the favourites to win all football tournaments in Asia, have finished preparations with their head coach, Nasir Al Jawhar brimming with confidence after the vote of faith given to him by the Saudi FA following news that the SFA have started negotiating with Brazilian legend Zico to lead the team.
The SFA confirmed in an official statement that "Al Jawahar will lead the team in the Gulf Cup and the qualifiers of the World Cup and that we have we faith and confidence in his capabilities."
"The first match is always a problem." Saeed Al Misnad, the assistant coach of Qatar, told Gulf News.
"We have to win if we want to continue on our way to win the title but that is a road which is not easy to negotiate. We have to overcome strong hurdles and obstacles from the other strong opponents. We have faith in our players and they realise the size of the challenge."
"There is no way that a team can say we will win this match before its end." Al Jawhar said.
"All the matches are difficult especially the first one. Qatar are a very good team with outstanding players but then, so are we. I hope both teams will perform to their capabilities and show their true worth for the sake of the fans and to show how advanced the tournament is."
Both sides have a bunch of excellent players as the Saudi side will feature: Yasir Qahtani, Malek Mouaz, Redha Takar and others while the Qatari team will include: Ebrahim Khalfan, Sebastian Soria, Abdullah Kone and Mohammad Saqr.
Their encounter in the first round of the last Gulf Cup in Abu Dhabi in 2007 ended 2-1 in favour of the Saudi team.
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