DOHA: Qatar players yesterday brought immense delight to home football fans with their 15-0 drubbing of lowly-ranked Bhutan but coach Daniel Carreno (pictured left) said the visitors were not up to the mark in the lop-sided game.
“From a tactical perspective, there was a huge difference between the two teams,” Carreno said at Al Sadd Stadium.
“We saw two different levels. We can say that the Qatari players were very serious and disciplined throughout the game,” the Uruguayan said
“And this is the positive thing from today’s game,” he said.
“We worked hard with the group while aiming to win and score the highest number of goals. I didn’t expect we were going to win by such a huge margin,” Carreno said.
“Since the first minute we were trying to push.
“The good thing is that the players were trying hard to score from the very beginning,” Carreno pointed out.
Carreno said when regular strikers Khalfan Ibrahim and Sebastian Soria regain fitness, Qatar would play better.
“As we have said before, strikers Ibrahim and Soria are important players for us but when they are on their highest preparedness level, we do well,” Carreno said about the absent players yesterday.
Carreno said Qatar dominated from the start and the opening goal set things in motion for the home side. “The first goal was the most important one,” Carreno said.
“After three goals we were trying to achieve the highest number of goals because we will need this if goal difference comes into play at the end,” he said.
“Everyone around the team bench - administration and technical staff - all of us were looking to achieve a historic record but not just in a single match,” Carreno said.
“Now we have to think about our game against Hong Kong. After that we will look at the QSL because when the season starts, the Qatar players will play more games and their preparedness will be higher,” Carreno said.
“Hong Kong will be very different. They have achieved positive results so far. The two teams - Qatar and Hong Kong are even sides. These two teams are high on confidence,” the Qatar coach added.
“China drew with Hong Kong - this could play in our favour. The two teams have lost two points, China will suffer having lost their points even more.
“For Qatar, any draw within the group will be in our favour,” Carreno said.
But the Qatar coach had a word of caution for the home side.
“It is unacceptable for them (the Qatar players) to take any game lightly and be complacent. Today they have shown after eight goals that they want to achieve even more.
“Their confidence and their mental presence is very high,” he said.
THE PENINSULA
