Ahmed Eltigani
An exciting match-up will be underway tonight at the Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah, where hosts Qatar will face Saudi Arabia in the semi-finals of the 24th Arabian Gulf Cup. Ticket sales for the game have flooded malls in Qatar throughout the week, as the game has been drawing an extremely large audience and is very much in demand, with around 25,000 tickets being sold within the first few hours both online and at ticketing counters. The game will kick off at 20:00 Doha Time, the winner will take one closer step to raising the trophy by progressing to the final. Qatar and Saudi Arabia both made it through to the semi-finals with two wins and one loss, both losing their opening matches but later gaining momentum and becoming formidable opponents. The record of fixtures between the two countries leans more toward Saudi Arabia, who out of 39 games won 17, with Qatar winning seven and 15 matches ending in a draw.
Qatar however have been in strong form in the past couple of years, becoming a force to be reckoned with in Asia, having previously beat Saudi Arabia in a key fixture of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, and later won the tournament. Even though Qatar won its last two games against its neighbour, coach Felix Sanchez urges his team to look forward and not back, “Those two games were important for the national team but that has become the past. This (today’s game) will be a different game. It’s going to be an open game. The games we played months or some years ago will not matter in this semi-final.”
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia coach Renard says that while the pressure will be on in the tough fixture, he is confident in his current squad, “I think we are increasing our performance (level) since we started this event. The first game (loss against Kuwait) was difficult for many reasons but the players did well since we were missing some of the key players. Against Bahrain and Oman, we were completely different as we got our experienced players back. Al Hilal players are back with us now. We are confident. We are playing a different team, a stronger team. We also know what we are capable of doing”