Qatar’s only focus is on Asian Cup semi-final against Iran
Marquez Lopes, the manager of Asian Cup hosts Qatar, said he is not looking beyond his side’s semi-final clash with Iran on Wednesday.
The defending champions squeezed past Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals with a 3-2 penalty shoot-out victory on Saturday.
Goalkeeper Meshaal Barsham was the hero at Al Bayt Stadium, the Al Sadd man saving three penalties after 120 minutes of action could not separate the two teams.
Hassan Al Haydos’ 27th minute goal had put the Qataris in front before Odiljon Hamrobekov levelled 13 minutes into second half.
But Qatar’s Spanish coach Lopes said his team won’t start dreaming of reclaiming their crown just yet as they face Iran in Doha for a place in Saturday’s final.
“Our goal is to always win, one match after the other and we’ve given everything we’ve got in this short period,” said Lopes. “We believe reaching the semi-final is an achievement, but the mission is not accomplished yet.
“We still have two matches and we want to give everything we can in these two matches, but we’ll take it one match at a time.”
Lopes’s opposite number Amir Ghalenoei believes his team can kick on to bigger things after their 2-1 comeback win over Japan in the quarter-finals.
Team Melli came from a goal down at Education City Stadium to defeat the Samurai Blue thanks to two second-half goals from Mohammad Mohebi and Alireza Jahanbakhsh to reach the last four of the tournament for the second time in a row.
Iran lost to Japan 3-0 in the semi-finals of the previous edition in the UAE in 2019.
And Iran coach Ghalenoei said: “This match can be a turning point for Iranian football, not just for the senior national team, but also for the U23s, U19s and the whole football set-up.”
In the other semi-final, South Korea, who beat Australia 2-1 on Friday, meet Jordan at Al Rayyan’s Ahmad bin Ali Stadium tomorrow.
South Korea’s win over Australia came almost nine years to the day since they lost to the Socceroos in the 2015 final in Sydney.
But Son Heung-min, who scored the extra-time winner on Friday, said: “Today wasn’t about the last game in 2015, it was about our goal in this tournament. I’m just happy that we’re one step closer to achieving our goal.”