by Armstrong Vas
Doha: Australia coach Ange Postecoglou is wary of a confident Qatar but is ready for the ‘tough’ test as the two teams clash in a friendly here today.
“It will be a tough game if you look at the recent results of Qatar. Both UAE and Qatar are in the advanced stage of their preparations for the Gulf Cup,” said Ange Postecoglou, coach of the visiting team.
“We are satisfied with our performance against UAE, but we look forward to do better and improve upon it,” added the 49-year-old, who took over the reigns of the team before the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Postecoglou said for most of the players in his new look squad the trip to UAE and Qatar is the first time they are playing in the region.
“Most of them it is their maiden trip and play here. The experience of playing in UAE and Qatar will help the players get to understand the conditions, which may be irrelevant to the (current) Asian Cup preparations but for the upcoming world Cup qualifiers,” added the Australian official.
The Socceroos, hosts of the 2015 Asian Cup, has lined up a number of friendlies in preparation for the continental cup and the Doha match is the second Middle East opponent they will be tackling within four days.
On Friday, the 2014 World Cup finalists drew goalless with UAE.
Earlier they scrapped past Saudi Arabia 3-2.
After the friendly against Qatar, Australia have just one more run-out - a potentially searching encounter with fellow AFC Asian Cup favourites Japan - before the tournament begins on home soil in January.
The Al Anabi on the other hand, is set for the Gulf Cup challenge.
The 2014 Gulf Cup of Nations will be the 22nd edition of the biennial football competition, and will be held from November 13 to 26 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It was scheduled to take place in Basra, Iraq but was shifted after concerns over preparations and security. Iraq was also due to host the 2013 tournament, but this was moved to Bahrain instead. After being moved to Saudi Arabia, Jeddah was initially announced as the host city but was later moved to Riyadh
The 2022 World Cup hosts are ranked 11th in Asia, 96th in the world and go into this game fresh from two successive wins, having smashed Lebanon 5-0 last time out, which followed on from an impressive 3-0 win over Uzbekistan.
Skipper Meshal Abdulla has only scored four times in 26 appearances for his country, but the striker is in red hot form, with three of those goals coming in his last two matches. More dangerous is Sebastian Soria.
The Uruguayan-born forward has banged in 29 goals in 99 international appearances and is also the scorer of the fastest hat-trick in AFC Champions League history - claiming three goals in a barely believable nine seconds.
Prior to those two big wins, both of which came at home, Qatar lost 2-0 at home to Peru, drew 0-0 with Morocco and 2-2 against Indonesia. The two teams have met four times in 2014 World Cup qualifiers. Australia won three times while one match ended in a goalless draw.
At 2014 World Cup finals Australia failed to get past the Group stage losing all the matches.
The Socceroos lost 3-2 to Netherlands after a tough fight, gave Chile a few anxious moments before going down 3-1, while the 2010 champions Spain, who also failed to qualify for the next round, registered a facile 3-0 win.
The Peninsula
Socceroos Squad
Aziz Behich (Bursaspor, Turkey), Mark Bresciano (Al Gharafa, Qatar), Joshua Brillante (ACF Fiorentina), Italy, Tim Cahill (New York Red Bulls, USA), Jason Davidson (West Bromwich Albion FC, England), Adam Federici (gk) (Reading FC, England), Ivan Franjic (FK Torpedo Moskva, Russia), Chris Herd (Bolton Wanderers FC, England), James Holland (FK Austria Vienna, Austria), Bernie Ibini (Sydney FC, Australia), Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace FC, England), Robbie Kruse (TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Germany), Mitchell Langerak (gk) (B.V. Borussia 09 Dortmund, Germany), Mathew Leckie (FC Ingolstadt 04, Germany), Massimo Luongo (Swindon Town FC, England), Mark Milligan (Melbourne Victory FC, Australia), Tommy Oar (FC Utrecht, Netherlands), Mat Ryan (gk) Club (Brugge KV, Belgium), Trent Sainsbury (P.E.C. Zwolle, Netherlands), Brad Smith (Swindon Town FC, England), Nikolai Topor-Stanley (Western Sydney Wanderers FC), Australia, James Troisi (S.V. Zulte Waregem, Belgium), Alex Wilkinson (Jeonbuk Hyundai FC, Korea Republic).
Qatar Squad
Saad Al Sheeb, Khalfan Ibrahim, Ali Asad, Mahadi Ali, Hassan Haidous, Abdulkareem Hassan, Ibraheem Magid, Ahmed Sufyan, Abdulrhman Abobaker, Khalid Abdulraouf, Wisam Rizq, Musaab Mohamoud, Khalid Muftah, Ahmed Mohammed Abdulmaqsoud, Mohammed Mosa, Isamail Mohammed, Luis Martin Junior, sybstian Soryia, Ahmed Yassir Al Mohammadi, Hussein Ali, Qasem Burhan, Bilal Mohammed, Mishaal Abdullah and Abulaziz Hatim.
