Sanchez: Qatar fully deserved the win over Azerbaijan

by Ahmed Hashim

Qatar coach Felix Sanchez said his side fully deserved the 2-1 win over Azerbaijan on Saturday, which saw the Maroons get their second straight victory in the European qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup.

Participating as a guest team in Group A, Qatar began their campaign with a 1-0 win over Luxembourg and followed it up with a comeback victory over Azerbaijan in Debrecen.

Azerbaijan took the lead through Ramil Sheyadev’s 16th minute penalty, which had been awarded following a foul by Mohammed Waad. Qatar trailed by the lone goal at halftime, but turned the game around after the break with a quickfire brace from Hassan Al-Haydos. The captain dispatched a penalty of his own in the 55th minute, before giving Qatar the lead three minutes later with a stunning strike from outside the box.

Speaking after the game, Sanchez told Al Kass TV: “They (Azerbaijan) started with a very offensive attitude and it was quite difficult for us to neutralise their attack. For some of our players, it was their first time playing in this kind of games and it was quite hard for them in the beginning.”

“But after the first 25 minutes, the team started to feel more comfortable, we had more possession, and of course this gave us more confidence, and we created some chances.”

“In the second half, we continued in this way, we created more chances and we fully deserved the result we got against a team that made things very difficult for us, because they have quality players and a good organisation.”

Asked about the tough schedule which will see Qatar play thrice in six days, the coach said: “That’s why we are here – to face this kind of situations. The players are used to playing these kinds of games with only two days in between.

Today they responded very well and we are looking forward to the third game to keep our level and to be able to complete.”

Qatar’s third game in Group A, the last game ahead of a six-month gap before the next clash, is against Ireland on March 30.

Speaking about the readiness of his players, the Spaniard remarked: “Today we had some new players, and this gives us fresh legs. We are ready to play the next game. We don’t have any injured players and hopefully everyone will be ready for the next game.”

After making five changes to the lineup for the Azerbaijan game, Sanchez was asked if he would continue rotating the squad against Ireland. “We need to analyse many things,” he said.

“We need to analyse how our players are after the game. Maybe something can come up in terms of injuries, so we need to wait at the moment. We will focus on the recovery of the players, analyse our opposition and then decide the day before the game.”