Qatar coach Sanchez confident of a winning start

Doha: Defending champions Qatar are confident of starting their campaign with a victory against Yemen, said coach Felix Sanchez.

Qatar, who are in Group B also comprising Bahrain and Iraq, are expected to beat Yemen, but Sanchez knows the too well that opening matches are never easy.

“Our ambition is to play a very good game against Yemen and get a good result also. We want to start with three points,” Sanchez said at the pre-match press conference.

“When you make a good start, you usually do well and settle into a nice rhythm. The players have been working very hard. They want to play a good tournament. We have the potential (to dominate),” said the Spaniard.

Qatar’s young team have put in strong performances in the last few warm-up matches, including against Iceland and the Czech Republic last month and Sanchez said his players were motivated to do well.

 “All the players we have here are obviously the best ones we have. All the players involved in the squad are very motivated to do well. We are the defending champions. We want to compete hard against what are very good teams.

“The standard is top-notch and we are looking forward to starting positively. The confidence is high since the players know we are the defending champions,” said Sanchez, adding that his team would play an attacking game against Yemen.

“Yemen are a good side. I would say they have a group of talented players, some brilliant individual players. They have our respect. We will try to attack early.”