Alkass Digital
Saudi Arabia’s head coach Saad Al Shehri is focused on leveraging his team’s extensive experience against high-flying Uzbekistan in the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024 quarter-final at Khalifa International Stadium, today.
Defending champions Saudi Arabia, after a surprise 2-1 loss to Iraq, finished second in Group C, but Al Shehri, who led the team to title, is confident ahead of the game dubbed as the clash of titans.
“We have a good number of players who participated in the previous edition present with us, they have enough experience,” said Al Shehri. “We also have players who played with the senior team in the AFC Asian Cup and FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. All the requirements of the Saudi Arabia team are there for us to keep moving forward.”
“Losing against Iraq will hopefully not impact us, but instead motivate us as the real competition starts tomorrow.”
As anticipation builds, Al Shehri called on his young Green Falcons to embrace the challenge.
“Every team knows every other team after the three matches. The decisive element will be how prepared each individual player is, and their willingness to adapt to the tactical requirements.”
The tie is a rematch of the 2022 final, where Saudi Arabia emerged victorious, setting the stage for an intense game with Uzbekistan head coach Timur Kapadze confident of turning the tables after a dominant showing to top Group D.
“We are really happy to reach the knockout stage, and this will be a really important match for both teams,” said Kapadze. “Of course our opponents are a strong team. We’ve already analysed their strengths and weaknesses, and we’ve got our own strategy to overcome them.”
“We played Saudi Arabia two years ago, and I think both teams have changed and improved since. I know their coach, so we have enough experience to be ready for the match tomorrow. I believe that experience will help us.”
Iraq, Vietnam ready for exciting clash
Meanwhile, Iraq will take on Vietnam in the last quarter-final at Al Janoub Stadium today.
Encouraged by his side’s improvement in the past two matches that saw them top Group C ahead of Saudi Arabia, Iraq head coach Radhi Shenaishil is ready to assume the favourites tag but admits that a different strategy will be needed to combat Vietnam’s strengths.
“The knockout will be different from the group stage, we respect Vietnam and will have to work to get a good result,” said the 57-year-old.
Despite losing to Uzbekistan in their final Group D match, Vietnam head coach Hoang Anh Tuan was keen to stress that the result will have little significance on the quarter-final against Iraq.
“The match with Uzbekistan will not have an impact on our preparations. Iraq also lost to Thailand earlier, that does not mean Iraq is weak, only means that anything can happen," he said.