Felix Sanchez: Happy to face Iraq

Qatar coach Felix Sanchez has made it clear that his team is ready to play in the Gulf 24.

“In order to prepare for the World Cup we must play such matches,” he said in a conference ahead of the opening of the tournament. “After Afghanistan’s match, we prepared well for the Gulf Championship”.

“Playing in Doha in these competitions is important with the support of the Qatari fans and we hope this will motivate us to offer a good tournament”.

Asked whether his team would be under pressure, Sanchez said: “It is good to play under pressure in the Gulf Cup, as we did in the AFC and Copa America. We have to deal with each game separately.”

About playing against UAE and Iraq in the tournament after defeating them, he said: “This is a new tournament and we have to play from scratch and things here are different. Our goal is to advance from game to game, We know that UAE and Iraq are very stubborn opponents and we have to play seriously for 90 minutes and adapt to the circumstances”.

“In such Gulf Cup tournaments when there are four teams, winning the opening will give you a boost. We must admit that the beginning is difficult, but winning it pushes you forward and this has been experienced in the Asian nations. It is very important but not decisive, there are also other factors too”.

As for his opinion in the Iraqi team: “The teams we will play against are strong and Iraq is a strong team and we have played against it three times recently and they have a strong team physically and tightly organized. They are here to compete and we know this very well. Yes, it is a difficult game and I am happy to face Iraq”.

Sanchez admitted that the choice of the squad list was difficult because of the multiple options in the league and the readiness of players to represent Qatar.

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