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China Confident and Keen to Beat Qatar, Milutinovic
Chinese players have showed great adaptability in their approach and they are keen to beat Qatar in an Asian World Cup qualifier Friday in Doha, said China's head coach Bora Milutinovic.
Milutinovic, the vastly experienced coach from Yugoslavia, exhibited calmness of a man who is well prepared for the job at hand and in no mood to concede defeat despite the fact that his team will be playing in alien conditions.
"I don't think China is the only top team in our group. All the teams can play good football and challenge for a ticket to the finals in South Korea and Japan," Milutinovic said.
"I think the Qatar team are in a high mood after beating UAE in their last game and my team know that. We are keen to bag three points from this match. We have won two matches and my boys showed great adaptability in their approach.
"I usually don't brag about good results achieved in the past but I am sure our two wins in the second round have made my boys confident. Actually we are taking this Qatar game as just another match in our World Cup campaign. We have a long way to go," the Serb added.
But for Dzemal Hadziabdic, head coach of Qatar which are a notch behind leaders China in Group B of the Asian zone, the game presents him a do-or-die predicament.
"Although there is little to choose between the two sides, but we have a simple philosophy to adhere to: we will be playing to win the match. It's the only option we have," the Qatari coach said.
Qatar collected four points from three games, two points shy of China, who garnered six points from two games.
Months of hard training and meticulous planning by Qatar will be put to test against the highly reputed Chinese squad. The hosts are expected to be hard pressed to deliver in a game which will be played after "secret training" by their opponents.
However, the Hadziabdic-coached team are to bank on home conditions and homework done on their opponents, who have practiced mostly away from media glare.
"It doesn't matter to us how they've practiced. We are ready for this game. I know the Chinese team well and what kind of tactics they usually adopt," Hadziabdic said.
Qatar's chief striker Mohammed Al Enazi, who plays as a professional in the UAE league, sounded a bit more cautious.
"The Chinese team are very well organized. Another plus point about their outlook is that some of their players play professional league in Europe," Enazi said.
"But that does not worry us. Our confidence is high after our crucial win against UAE a week ago. I think we are well prepared to stop the red shirts (Chinese team)," he added.
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