Doha: Qatar’s plan to have a blend of a handful of experienced senior internationals and a host of players who won the 2014 AFC U-19 Championship at the AFC U23 Championship is working to perfection, Ahmed Yasser said yesterday.
Yasser and captain Abdelkarim Hassan form an integral of the Qatar U23 team and the two experienced campaigners hope to carry forward their consistent form into the semi-final match against Korea Republic tomorrow, when the two teams clash in the semi-finals.
The duo have played a key role for the hosts in the four matches ahead of the last-four clash and Yasser, a first-team regular insists Al Annabi, experience has come handy for the team’s cause.
The talented 21-year-old has been one of the standouts of an impressive Qatar side that boasts a 100% record in the tournament thus far, with the Lekhwiya centre-back forming an assured defensive united alongside fellow senior internationalist Abdelkarim Hassan, Musaab Khidir, and Tameem Mohammed.
“It’s true (experience is beneficial) considering that Karim and I are playing in our normal position, although Musaab is not. In addition, we’ve Tameem, who has played in all four matches and done well despite his inexperience at this level,” stated Yasser.
And the experience of Yasser and Abdelkarim - who were both regulars in the Qatar senior side that recently booked their place at the next edition of the Asia’s flagship national team competition after guaranteeing top spot in Group C of the joint-qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup - has been a key factor in the under 23s’ progress to the semi-final of the continental youth tournament. “Me and Karim train with the senior team and we’ve been with this group for only a month while the rest of the boys have been together for more than a couple of years. It needed some extra effort to get the team chemistry going and we’re happy all that is paying off.
“Together with Ali Asad, we’re the most experienced players in the team and we’re expected to push ourselves to the limits. That’s what we’re doing.
“But football is a team game and everybody has to fight with a never-give-up attitude. We’re doing that and must continue to do it in the coming matches.”
Coming up next for Qatar is a tantalising clash with Korea Republic, with Yasser and his team-mates looking to continue with the impressive form that has seen them defeat China, Iran, and Syria in the Group Stage before defeating DPR Korea in what they hope will be the first instalment of a Korean double.
“It was a tough match especially because we had to play the extra time,” Yasser said of Friday’s 2-1 victory at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.
“We did well. DPR Korea are a good team but looking back, barring the free-kick, they couldn’t create major problems for us. When they scored in stoppage time, they looked like killing our spirit, but we fought back with an early goal and controlled the game from then onwards.”
And it is that fighting spirit that Yasser wants Qatar to rekindle when they face the North Koreans’ southern neighbours in a match that will determine one of Asia’s three representatives at the 2016 Olympic Games.
“Now we’ve another important match and it’s like a final before the final for us, considering that a win will put us in Olympics,” continued the veteran of four AFC Champions League campaigns with Lekhwiya.
“Qatar hasn’t been to the Games since 1992 and we want to achieve it without waiting for the third-place play-off.”
The Peninsula
