Qatar players after their arrival in Seoul ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying game tomorrow. Qatar, coached by Fahad Thani, will be playing their Group A, Asian Zone, qualifying match at Seoul World Cup Stadium with the match scheduled to kick off at 2pm Qatar time.FADI EL ASSAD
SEOUL, Korea: Qatar football squad headed by coach Fahad Thani yesterday landed in the Korean capital Seoul for their 2014 FIFA World Cup clash against the hosts on March 26.
The Qatari squad was greeted by chilly weather as temperatures in the Korean capital dropped to 5 degrees Celsius.
‘Al Anabi’ later trained in the evening ahead of their Group A, Asian Zone clash to be played at Seoul World Cup Stadium.
Temperatures are expected to hover around the 8-degree mark on match-day.
The match tomorrow kicks-off at 2:00pm Qatar time.
Tomorrow’s clash against Korea will be their first World Cup qualifying fixture since their hard-fought 1-0 win over Lebanon in Doha on November 14.
Qatar have seven points from five matches with two wins.
In Group A Uzbekistan lead the pack with eight points whereas Korea, Iran and Qatar are tied at 7 points.
Korea have played one game less.
Lebanon are at the bottom of the group with 4 points from 5 matches.
Lebanon’s only win came against Iran in September last year, much to the delight in the Qatari camp since ‘Al Anabi’ held hosts Iran to a goalless draw in their clash last June.
The clash tomorrow is a return match for Qatar who were crushed by Korea 4-1 in Doha last June.
Qatar’s following games will be played on June 4 against Iran in Doha and on June 18 against Uzbekistan (away game).
Coach Fahad’s side took off from Bahraini capital Manama on Saturday night after their 2015 Asian Cup qualifying match played at National Stadium on Friday.
Prior to the team’s departure, Qatar coach Fahad has said his team will start fresh for their match against Korea on March 26.
Coach Fahad was talking to media following Qatar’s 1-0 loss against hosts Bahrain on Friday.
“This result will not affect us going into our next match (against Korea in Seoul). We know the importance of the next match,” Fahad said during a press conference.
“We have appropriate plans for our next clash.
“Hopefully, we will get a satisfactory result (on March 26),” he added.
“We entered the Bahrain clash with all possibilities. However, we could not make the most of the chances that we got whereas Bahrain exploited the only genuine chance of scoring against us,” the coach said.
“We played well in the second half but unfortunately we could not find the equaliser,” he said. THE PENINSULA
