DOHA: The Amir Cup quarterfinals of the Amir Cup – in its 50th edition – will start on Saturday with Al Sadd facing Al Ahli and Al Rayyan playing against Al Wakrah.
Al Sadd and Al Ahl teams will start the first quarterfinal of the day at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium at 4:50 pm. Al Sadd, coached by Javi Gracia, will be looking to win and reach the semifinal.
“We are fully committed to taking on Al Ahli but our goal is to win the cup,” Gracia, who replaced coach Xavi a couple of months ago, said during a press conference.
“We play a match every three days. We do not have much time to prepare satisfactorily so we will resort to the process of player rotation,” Gracia said.
“I trust all of my players that they will provide the required level. We will choose the best squad as we are playing a very important match in the Amir Cup,” he added.
While Al Ahli, coached by Nebojsa Jovovic, will be against a side that beat them 8-2 in their last QNB Stars League match last month.
“A difficult task awaits us against Al Sadd who are the league champions. They have been playing great football in a perfect season. We, on the other hand, have suffered several problems. Injuries to key players is one of those problems,” Jovovic said.
In the second match, Al Rayyan and Al Wakrah teams will meet at 7:45 pm at the same venue. Both teams are equally matched though Al Rayyan have won the competition in the past.
Al Rayyan are playing under a temporary coach Nicola Cordova having taken over just 18 days ago.
“I am hoping we are able to grab the ticket to qualify for the semi-finals of the competition,” Cordova told reporters.
“Like other teams, we have suffered from a lack of adequate time to prepare for this crucial match due to the backlog of Qatar Stars League matches. We know the Al Wakra team is one of the teams that offers distinguished levels and they have a great coach. We hope that the match is enjoyed by the fans of both teams,” he said.
Al Wakrah’s Spanish coach Marques Lopez said: ““We know that the match is important and Al Rayyan are still a formidable side. They may not have had good results recently but they have quality players.”
Source: Qatar Football Association