Riyadh: Qatar’s Gulf Cup win on Wednesday proves Qatari football is on the up ahead of the country’s 2022 Fifa World Cup hosting, according to star players Abdul Kareem Hassan and Hassan Khaled Al Haidous.
The Maroons came from behind to stun hosts Saudi Arabia 2-1 in Wednesday night’s Gulf Cup final at the King Fahd International Stadium, to lift their third title, and the first outside of Qatar.
Boualem Khoukhi netted the winner before the hour after Almadhi Ali quickly cancelled out Saud Khariri’s first half opener for The Green Falcons.
It was the second time Qatar had come from behind in this tournament to win after overcoming Oman 3-1 in Sunday’s semi-final, following three group stage draws with Saudi Arabia 1-1, Yemen 0-0 and Bahrain 0-0.
Coupled with Qatar’s recent maiden victory at the Under-19 Asian Cup in Myanmar last month, Qatari players said all the systems were now in place at junior and senior level, in order to put on an honourable show as hosts of the World Cup in eight years time.
“This win means Qatar is coming up, not down as before,” said 21-year-old Al Sadd defender Abdul Kareem Hassan. “Our Under-19s won the Asian Cup last month and now our first team has won the Gulf Cup, sure from now on those Under-19s will be preparing for the World Cup.”
Al Sadd striker Al Haidous, 23, said: “I think Qatar has done a good job with younger players thanks to the Aspire Academy, which is one of the best and biggest academies in Asia. It’s making very good players.
“We have a good young group of players and many will stay with the national team for a long time. And I think we can do a very good job in the future.”
Both players agreed the Gulf Cup win would also provide a much needed morale boost for the Asian Cup in Australia from January 9-31, where Qatar have been drawn with the UAE, Iran and Bahrain in Group C. “It is a great feeling to have won the Gulf Cup against a team as strong as Saudi here in Riyadh, in their home and with so many fans supporting them,” said Al Haidous. “I think we did a great job to finally take the cup.
“I hope, god willing, we can continue this performance in the Asian Cup, as this is also a very important tournament for us.
“We started work under coach Djamel Belmadi six months ago and he’s doing a great job. He’s helping us a lot and he’s reading our opponents very well and he’s helped us a lot to win this cup,” added Al Haidous.
“God willing we have the Asian Cup and qualification to the 2018 World Cup in Russia coming up and we hope to do good and qualify there also. I think we can do a very good job under coach Belmadi.”
Hassan said: “Thanks god we look to the Asian Cup, where god willing we will do well. We cannot speak until we go to Australia, but we hope to qualify from the group and after that we can talk about our chances.”
