Doha, 19 June 2019 - Asian champions Qatar are upbeat after their fighting draw against Paraguay in the first match, in which they came back from two goals down, but they face a tougher challenge in Colombia in their second match on Wednesday.
Colombia have top stars such as Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez, two of the most flamboyant players in world football, but the speciality of this Al Annabi side is that they have scant regard for reputations.
Unlike Colombia, the team led by Hassan Al Haydous have no world stars, but what they lack in stardom they more than make up for in fighting qualities and never say die attitude.
Colombia meanwhile, have hit the ground running under new coach Carlos Queiroz with a 2-0 victory against Lionel Messi’s Argentina in their opening match but the Portuguese coach said Qatar are a strong team now and cannot be taken lightly.
“Qatar have flexibility in the way they play and they can play different tactics in the same game,” said Queiroz at the pre-match press conference.
“They showed good performance against Brazil (in the warm-up match) and Paraguay and we need to be careful against them.
“Qatar have shown that they do not give up and they came back from 0-2 down against Paraguay to draw and they believe in their abilities. It is not easy to play against Qatar who have some very quick players.”
Qatar are taking on Colombia for the first time, but Queiroz, who was with Iran for eight years before moving to South America, knows a lot about their style of play. However, he feels they are a different team now.
“During my eight years with Iran we played quite a lot against Qatar, but there is a big difference in their level of play now,” said the 66-year-old.
Qatar will have to iron out their defensive flaws which they showed against Paraguay for in the likes of Falcao, Colombia have a far more lethal attacking force.
Felix Sanchez would be hoping that Qatar put a stronger show against one of the South American powerhouses when the teams meet at the Estádio Cícero Pompeu de Toledo in Morumbi, Sao Paulo.
Qatar had started slowly in the Asian Cup in which they triumphed in style, before finding their rhythm and young defender Bassam Al Rawi said they need to play without fear.
“It was a good result against Paraguay but we need to forget that. We missed plenty of chances but now we need to put up another fighting performance against Colombia,” said Al Rawi.
“We are playing in Copa America and we have shown that we belong at this level. We are displaying a strong brand of football, the style of game we played at the Asian Cup.
“We should play without fear. We should play as we did at the Asian Cup.”
And if Al Annabi can do that on Wednesday, anything is possible.
