English Edition
twitter YouTube
Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Yes No
Settings X

Sporting Buzz

For Quick Alerts
ALLOW NOTIFICATIONS  
For Daily Alerts

AFC Asian Cup: Qatar vs UAE could just be another 'war minus shooting'

FIFA 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar have been at the receiving end right throughout their AFC Asian Cup campaign with abuse being hurled at them by the local crowds at all venues.

By
This will be the fifth AFC Asian Cup meeting between Qatar and the UAE.
The AFC Asian Cup semifinal between Qatar and the UAE will have its impact both on and off the field. Image: AFC Twitter

Bengaluru, January 29: As Qatar take on the hosts UAE in the second semifinal of the AFC Asian Cup on Tuesday (January 29), sparks are bound to fly both on and off the field as another 'war minus shooting' spectacle looms large.

Ever since their Gulf neighbours imposed an economic blockade on Qatar in June, 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism, a charge which the country has repeatedly denied, tensions have flared up politically and it has quite often spilled over to the sports arena as well, so evident in the ongoing AFC Asian Cup in the UAE.

FIFA 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar have been at the receiving end throughout their AFC Asian Cup campaign with abuse being hurled at them by the local crowds at all the venues.

Security has been beefed up for the high-voltage clash and to add insult to injury there are even reports that majority of the tickets for the blockbuster semifinal were given only to people holding Emirati identification.

Even the Omani fans, who had turned up in large numbers to cheer the Annabi team during their last-16 game against Saudi Arabia - UAE's close ally - have been denied tickets. That in effect means the 42,000-capacity Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi will be rooting for Alberto Zaccheroni's white-clad team.

Qatar's Spanish coach Felix Sanchez, however, remained unfazed though and has instead backed his players to silence the haters once more.

"The players are aware that there's pressure but they're dealing with it very well. Up to this point it has been very demanding for us.

But this group of players are mentally strong. They've proven they can compete against the best teams in Asia and they're still ambitious -- they want to keep going," said Sanchez.

The regional rivalry has affected the tournament in many ways. Qatar's beIN Sports channel holds the exclusive telecast rights of the event. According to insiders, the channel, which is headed by Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain owner Nasser Al Khelaifi, is not available even in official, tournament-approved hotels.

Given the highly volatile political cicumstances, losing to Qatar in a home semifinal would be hugely embarrassing for the UAE. It could have got even worse if Qatar's ally Iran, who played the other semifinal against Japan had reached the final.

Seeing Iran or Qatar celebrating under their national flag in Abu Dhabi would be hard to stomach for the hosts and would raise the thorny of question of whether to let senior officials from the two countries attend.

But with Zaccheroni's men beating Team Melli 3-0, they have been saved from one potential embarrasment and they may be expecting the other also to go that way.

But on the field, we certainly can expect a do-or-die battle. This will be the fifth AFC Asian Cup meeting between Qatar and the UAE.

Their previous four encounters have come in the group stage - UAE losing the first two contests and winning the last two, including a resounding 4-1 victory at Canberra in 2015.

Kick Off

Qatar vs UAE

Tuesday, January 29 at Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium (Abu Dhabi)

Match starts at 6pm Local Time (7.30pm IST)

Live on Star Sports 2

Story first published: Tuesday, January 29, 2019, 14:09 [IST]
Other articles published on Jan 29, 2019
More From Mykhel
Prev
Next
Click to comments