Our national football team is a living example of patriotic citizens who have a mission to accomplish: a sports victory for the sake of our country, something that makes everyone happy.
The loud cheers of Al Ennabi (auburn shirts of Qatar’s national team) fans during the Qatar-Malaysia decider last weekend at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium was a do-or-die thriller.
The relentless cheers boosted the players’ morale. The players were eager to please fans by winning the game. We all keep our fingers crossed that the ‘auburn team’ will win all the coming matches.
From the beginning, all fans supported the team in their opening encounter in Group D of the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 qualifiers at Al Sadd Stadium. Of course, they will keep on backing our sincere players as long as they maintain their high spirits.
For starters, the line-up was excellent and impressed everybody. Coach Fahd Thani led the team that thrashed Malaysia 2-0 in their opening match of the AFC. The victory, along with the splendid performance, has made the man in the street trust the national team.
Perhaps the participation of seven players who have been absent for a long time was the most wonderful thing about the match. Their debut has brought high spirits back to the players. The coach also applied a new strategy. As the coach knows the psychological aspects of his players, he outlined a ‘national road map’, depending on sound planning, which made victory easy.
Let me here delve deeper into the atmosphere of that game. Apart from being a mere soccer match, it was more than a winner-loser encounter. We have been defeated by weak teams as we underestimated them. Qatar’s match versus Malaysia put an end to our frustration due to disqualification from the first round of the Gulf 21 tournament. The exit saddened us much. The players and the coach pleased all fans by their outstanding performance, giving us hope of more victories to come.
