Alkass Digital
Friday's 3-0 victory against Lebanon stretched Qatar's AFC Asian Cup winning streak to eight matches - stretching back to their 2019 title triumph - and should the China PR-Lebanon tie end in a draw on Wednesday - Marquez Lopez's defending champions will be assured of topping Group A.
“We’re going to enter this match in order to achieve a victory,” said Lopez. “They are a difficult opponent but we have studied them and we know that they have speedy players who can hurt us.
“From the first day I’ve said that we have to take it one match at a time, we want to lead and we want to go to the second round, that objective hasn’t changed."
“We have to use all the tools we have to score as early as possible but the most important thing is to be prepared and ready for the match
“Of course we all think about the games to come in the next round but we have to focus first on the next game first. If we win, it’s possible that we win the group then we’ll see who we might get in the next round."
The opening day win over Lebanon - thanks to an Akram Afif brace and one from Almoez Ali - gave the Maroons a two-point advantage over both China PR and Tajikistan.
While Qatar seemingly on course for a second win, they will no doubt be mindful that Tajikistan did pick up a 2-1 victory the last time these two teams met in 2012 in an international friendly.
The Central Asian side showed plenty of heart in their goalless draw with China on Saturday, controlling large parts of the match and head coach Petar Segrt is confident of yet another enterprising display against Qatar.
“We respect Qatar as the champions and great hosts but for at least 90 minutes tomorrow, we must put that aside,” said Segrt. “We will try to achieve a good result and make a good impression, to try to get one or three points.
“We cannot go into a game to get one point, we will try our best. More important is how we behave and how we play our football.
“It’s not the character of the Tajikistan people to play defensive. So we will try to play our football but we must also respect that Qatar are stronger than China and they will also have their supporters behind them.”
The tournament’s only debutants, Tajikistan's confidence has been boosted by the draw against China PR.
“Before we went into the first game, the players were thinking that they are happy to be here but after the performance we showed, they are now starting to think that they have a chance.
“We had dreams two years ago to come to the Asian Cup, now we have a new dream, now we want to have the first goal in the Asian Cup.”
Tajikistan v Qatar
Kick-off: 17:30 (UTC+3)
Venue: Al Bayt Stadium (Al Khor)