Alkass Digital
Lusail Stadium will be lit up in gold once again as Qatar begin their AFC Asian Cup title defense in the tournament’s opening match against Lebanon later this evening.
Qatar go into the tournament on the back of big wins in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, but their outings against higher-ranked teams have resulted in heavy losses in recent months.
Nevertheless, Qatar are expected to make a strong defense of a trophy they fought so hard to lift for the first time and defender Tarek Salman says the pressure is not the same as it was going into the World Cup.
Both Qatar and Lebanon are kicking-off the tournament with two new coaches. Qatar appointed 'Tintin' Marquez Lopez last month after Carlos Queiroz parted company with them while Lebanon hired former Montenegro coach Miodrag Radulovic to replace Croatian Nikola Jurcevic.
However, both coaches are not strangers to the two squads. Lopez coached Qatari side Al-Wakrah for five years while this is Radulovic's second stint with Lebanon.
This will be the 14th encounter between the two Arab nations with their last head-to-head played at this very competition in the 2019 UAE. Bassam Al-Rawi and Almoez Ali scored goals in that game and both of them are part of the current Qatar squad as well.
Match kick-off is at 7pm, Doha time.
Qatar lineup:
-Meshaal Barsham
-Pedro Miguel
-Almahdi Ali
-Mohammed Waad
-Abdulaziz Hatem
-Youssef Abdulrazaq
-Hassan Al Haydos
-Akram Afif
-Lucas Mendes
-Almoez Ali
-Ahmed Fathi
Lebanon lineup:
-Mustafa Matar
-Robert Malki
-Kassem Al Zein
-Nour Mansour
-Hussein Al Zein
-Nassar Nassar
-Walid Shour
-Ali Taneich
-Mohamad Haidar
-Bassel Jradi
-Hassan Maatouk