Gulf 24 starts with an expected confrontation between Qatar and Iraq

Gulf Arab Cup “Gulf 24” will begin on Tuesday with an expected confrontation between the Qatari national team and the Iraqi team at 7:30 p.m. on the ground of Khalifa International Stadium.

The match seems very difficult for both parties in the light of the specificity of the Gulf tournaments and the size of the frantic competition between all competitors.

Iraq trained in the past few days in the absence of eight players active in the police club. Katanic spoke on this matter at the press conference saying: “It is difficult to have so few players so it is very difficult to predict what will happen. And this is a new experience for me and I hope to succeed in any decision I make.”

Katanic hinted that police club players could sit on the bench because they cannot play two matches in just 24 hours.

On the other hand, Felix Sanchez, coach of the Qatari national team said that the Asian title has become a thing from the past and the Gulf championship only imposed this time.

“This is a new tournament and we have to play from scratch,” Sanchez said before the tournament. “Things here are different from Asia. We aim to progress from game to game.We know that UAE and Iraq are very stubborn opponents and we should play very serious for the 90 minutes and adapt to the circumstances”.

The two teams met in the Gulf Championships 9 times. The cuff tend to favor the lions of Mesopotamia, while only one victory for the Qatari Adam in the Gulf 7 (Muscat in 1984) and the draw on 4 occasions.