Stage set for International U23 Friendly Championship
Doha: Coach of the Qatar Olympic football team Bruno Miguel Pinheiro, says the national Olympic team will make great gains during its participation in the International U23 Friendly Championship for Asian teams which kicks off across Qatar’s stadiums from Wednesday.
Qatar’s young stars will meet the United Aran Emirates (UAE) in the opening match at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium at 10pm today. The tournament will be held from March 22-28.
Competing in a regional roundhouse, Qatar will compete alongside the likes of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea and Vietnam.
Addressing a pre-match media briefing, Pinheiro said that the tournament is a great opportunity to prepare the team for the upcoming Asian Cup finals, pointing out that there are many new players whose abilities will be judged during the matches.
Pinheiro, who led the Qatari Olympic team to the WAFF Championship runners-up finish last November, said, “We are waiting for the best from all players and we are looking for the best preparation to ensure that we reach the required fitness. We have undergone some preliminary preparations during the past days, and we will try to make the most of it.”
UAE’s Spanish coch Denis Silva said that he also wants his players to make the most of the opportunity to gain experience during the competitions with the presence of 10 new players in the team.
For his part, Saad al-Shehri, coach of the Saudi national U23 team, said the tournament provides players the chance to play with several teams, thanking the Qatar Football Association (QFA) for hosting the tournament.
The coach, who led the Saudi to the West Asian Championship title, said, “Our goals are clear in this preparatory tournament, centered on implementing the programme that was set by the Saudi federation, and we look forward to exploring more players and giving the opportunity to some new faces against Thailand tomorrow will undoubtedly be difficult. Especially since it is a good team and has a distinguished group of talented players.”
He stressed that the Saudi national team’s winning of the last Asian championship bears a greater responsibility and the group is moving step by step and that there was also a need to pump new blood at this stage to maintain the quality of the team.
Issara Sariharu, coach of the Thailand national team, stated that he is looking at good competition with some of the best teams in the continent in this age group. He said: “We are here to develop and improve the performance of the Thai national team, and we want to stand at the level of all players.”
Portuguese coach Emilio Peixe of the Kuwait team expects the competition to be strong in view of the strength of the participating teams. “What matters is developing the players’ performance and level in order to enter strongly into the next stage,” he said.
In the same context, Kyrgyzstan coach Letsim Maxim said that participation will be important for his national team after the promotion of a number of new players from the youth team.
He also expressed his great admiration for the stadiums in Qatar, which is also an opportunity for his team to prepare appropriately for the upcoming qualifiers.
Vietnam’s French coach Philippe Troussier expressed his happiness on returning to Qatar again after he had previously led the first Qatari national team in 2003 and 2004, praising the size of the development taking place in Qatari football and the impressive success achieved in organizing the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 .
He said: “The great development in Qatar is very remarkable, and it has succeeded in organizing many international sporting events.”
Radi Shenaishel, the coach of the Iraqi team, expressed his great happiness in participating in the tournament, indicating that he aspires to make the most of this participation, especially in the presence of many strong teams, thanking QFA for organizing this tournament, which represents an opportunity to play many matches in perfect time and will help evaluate his team’s performance level.
The Iraq coach concluded: “Our goal is to prepare the Iraqi national team for the West Asian Championship next June, then the qualifiers for the Asian Cup finals, and some professional players will join, who will be a great addition to the team.”
Oman’s coach Akram Habreesh said that the benefit will be great for all participating teams, considering that playing with different styles is very important before entering the next qualifying stage.
South Korea U23 national team coach Son Hong Hwan highlighted that participation in this type of tournament has many benefits, especially since this age group needs to gain experience and compete with different schools, pointing to the development of Asian football.
QFA announced the schedule to be held in three rounds, with the participation of Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, Iraq, Sultanate of Oman and Saudi Arabia, where the first round will witness five matches and the same in the second round, and based on the results of the first and second rounds, positions will be determined from 1 to 10, and the third and final round meetings will determine the final positions.
The Asian international friendly tournament comes as part of the teams’ preparation for the U-23 Asian Cup finals, which qualifies for the 2024 Paris Olympics, which will be held in Doha.
Qatar U23 Squad:
Khaled Ali, Mohamed Surag, Osamah Al Tairi, Tameem Mansour (Al Rayyan), Abdulla Al Yazidi, Abdulrahman Rashed (Al Sadd), Abdulla Al Sulaiti, Jassem Gaber, Amir Hassan (Al Arabi), Ilyes Brimil, Abdelrahman Mohamed (Umm Salal), Abdulaziz Mohamed, Diyab Haroon, Mohamed Emad (Al Duhail), Ali J AI Marri, Mohamed Al Manai, Mohamed Hassan (Al Markhiya), Ali Nader (Al Khor), Mohamed Khaled (Al Wakrah), Saifeldeen Hassan, Abdalla Yousif (Al Gharafa), Faisal Mohamed, Yousif Balida (Al Shamal)
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