Qatar’s Spanish head coach Felix Sanchez gestures during the friendly football match against China at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha on Friday.
DOHA: Qatar football coach Felix Sanchez is keen to see his side play to potential and score wins in two more international friendlies lined up next month.
This week Qatar beat China 1-0 before crushing Palestine 3-0 in two friendlies played at the Khalifa International Stadium where the home team looked in control in both fixtures.
“In October we will play two important games and I am confident we will continue playing the way we play now,” Sanchez said while reviewing his team’s brilliant performance against Palestine on Tuesday.
“I think we played the game seriously and we controlled from start to finish,” the Spaniard added.
Goals by Almoez Ali (3), Akram Afif (20) and captain Hassan Al Haydos (30) - who was playing his 100th international for Qatar - completed the 3-0 rout of Palestine. On Friday, Ali was the only goal scorer as Qatar beat a strong Chinese outfit 1-0 under lights.
Sanchez, who released players of Al Duhail for the team’s AFC Champions quarter-finals leg ahead of the Palestine game, is looking forward to Qatar’s friendlies with Uzbekistan and Ecuador in October.
Qatar have lined up the series of friendlies in order to finalise the starting line-up for their opening clash at the 2019 Asian Cup set to be held in the UAE. Qatar are one of the 24 teams featuring in the AFC Asian Cup (Jan 5-Feb 1 2019) to be played in four cities.
Sanchez said there was balance in the squad that provided experience and youth in their attacks against Palestine.
“Scoring early goals gave us the start we were looking for and the chance to play freely,” Sanchez said.
“It was a great effort and we were very active in the first half,” he added.
“I congratulate the players for their efforts and I think we are developing well as a team.
“These results are very important even in friendly matches because the wins add to the confidence of the players. The players are playing with concentration,” he added.
“We are looking at the level of our performances and at the moment we are satisfied with our team and we want to keep our choice of players.
“The games in October will be new matches and new opportunity to develop the players,” Sanchez said.
The Qatar coach said he is yet to decide on the squad for the two matches in October.
“So far there is no final formation of the squad as each match has its conditions and composition. I do not know what squad I will play against Ecuador. We are looking to choose the players who are fit. Without a doubt, I am happy to see Karim Boudiaf return and give us some action in the game against Palestine,” Sanchez added.
“We are trying to play against strong teams and Ecuador and Uzbekistan are tough teams,” the Qatar coach said.
“We are looking forward to provide pressure matches for our players. It is important for players to be in different scenarios,” Sanchez said.
“We are following the teams of the Asian Cup and we are analysing how they play. Our goal is to be ready on January 9th for our first Asian Cup match,” he added.
Palestine coach Noureddine Ould Ali wasn’t too pleased with the outcome of the match on Tuesday.
He said: “We played 30 minutes of sloppy football and conceding three quick goals did not help. We made many mistakes. We tried to get our act together but we finished the first half missing our key players.”
He added: “We made some changes in the second half and the players did well. We talked to the players and gave them confidence. This is a preparation stage and we must look at the positives from this match. We did not concede any goals after the 30th minute. The result is tough but we played without our key players because of injuries.”
