The Qatar Men's Asian Football Team takes on the Palestine Men's Asian Football Team in the second round of the Men's Asian Football Group D on Friday (22).
Qatar's last match against Japan was dominated by their opponents, and although they were close to 1:2 at one point, they were pulled away again towards the end and eventually lost 1:3. Since there are only 3 teams in this group, Japan's win basically locks up the top spot, and Qatar's primary goal is to finish second.
Qatar will send U22 team to play in this year's Asian Games, and there are no overage players in the squad, which is relatively younger than Palestine, which is led by U24 players. When I led the Hong Kong team in the last Asian Games, we played against Palestine, and I felt that the defense players of the other team were taller, and the team was stronger in defense than in offense. For Palestine, their next match against Japan is basically a no-win situation. If they want to finish third in the Asian Games, they have to go undefeated against Qatar and minimize the number of goals conceded in order to be in a good position to qualify for the Asian Games.
