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IRAN MATCH WILL BE DIFFICULT, SAYS COACH ABADIA

Fergana, Uzbekistan: Qatar coach Iñaki Gonzalez Abadia on Tuesday said his team’s opening clash against Iran in the AFC U20 Asian CupTM Uzbekistan 2023. “difficult.”

Qatar, 2014 champions, impressed in the qualifying group held in Bahrain; however, they will be matched by an Iranian side that managed to qualify with a clean shit throughout the qualification stage.

“The competition in this tournament is fierce, and tomorrow’s game will be no exception. We are well aware of their team’s physical prowess, but we have been training for just such opponents.”, Abadia said in the pre-tournament press conference held one day prior to kickoff.

“All of our attention is being directed toward the first match of the tournament. In response to a question on how he thinks things would finally play out in the group, he stated that “We take it one match at a time.”

Qatar’s performance in the qualifying group generated so much excitement around the team, but coach Abadia refused the notion that this could put his young players under pressure , “This generation of players qualified for the U17 championship but couldn’t compete in the tournament since it was cancelled amidst the pandemic, and now they have qualified once more, but this time they get to play and test their skills against some of the competition in Asia, I am delighted for them”.

Qatar, who won the tournament in 2014, are drawn in the challenging group B alongside Australia, Iran and Vietnam.

Qatar will take on Iran on March 1st in their opening match, before playing Vietnam on the 4th of the same month.

Qatar will conclude their group stage matches against Australia on March 7.

Source: Qatar Football Association

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