Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Sharjah: Coach Hakeem Shakir has expressed his total confidence of an Iraq victory ahead of Wednesday’s crucial 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualifier with fellow hopefuls China, and given his assurances that the 2007 champions will advance to Australia.
The Group C showdown sees China occupying the all-important second place, two points ahead of Iraq, with a draw good enough for the 2004 finalists to ensure direct qualification for Australia.
Iraq, however, must take all three points at Al Sharjah Club Stadium in order to leapfrog the East Asians and guarantee their place in the 2015 continental competition.
Failure to do so would leave Shakir’s side hoping to advance as best third placed team across the five qualifying groups, but they would be in danger of missing out with Lebanon, Syria, Malaysia and Hong Kong also in contention.
“We will qualify to the Asian Cup with a victory against China and I’m totally confident that my team and our players will be able to defeat China. However, we must respect our opponents as they are a good side,” said coach Shakir, who will miss suspended defender Waleed Salim.
“Winning tomorrow is not impossible especially with our squad who achieved a lot of good results in the recent years. China are a good side and they deserve to qualify to the Asian Cup as well but the last word will be in the match.”
Despite only needing a point from the clash at Sharjah, newly appointed China coach Alain Perrin is determined to begin his time with the Asian powerhouse on a winning note, despite the significant absences of Guangzhou Evergrande full-backs Sun Xiang and Zhang Linpeng due to suspension.
“We will not be playing for a draw but we will be looking for a victory in order to secure our place in the Asian Cup finals,” said coach Perrin.
“Iraq are a strong team and they have good talents but at the same time we have a good side and will be looking for a win.
“We prepared very well for the match and we have good ambitions from the match. We will be giving our best in order to qualify and we will be looking for a win despite the fact that the match is very hard.”
In Group C’s other fixture, group winners Saudi Arabia take on bottom side Indonesia with the winless Southeast Asian side intent on redressing the balance after their narrow 2-1 home defeat to the Arab kingdom last March.
“We are going into the match against Saudi Arabia with an aim to avenge our defeat in the previous match. We know that Saudi Arabia are a strong team but we have also a good side who are ready for the match,” said Indonesia coach Alfred Riedl.
“There is no doubt that the match will be very hard as we are looking to make a good comeback and claim a good victory against the leaders of the group. The match will be very hard and we will try to score and put pressure on our opponents using our quick counter attacks.”
Their undefeated hosts Saudi Arabia will have unfamiliar backline without first choice custodian Waleed Abdullah and their most experienced centreback Osama Hawsawi as both miss the match through suspensions after receiving their second yellow cards of the qualifiers in the previous match.
“The match against Indonesia is very important even though we have already secured our place in the finals. We have several targets that we want to achieve from this match including the development of the national team level,” said Saudi Arabia coach Juan Ramon Lopez Caro.
“We also want to return to winning ways and improve our place in the World Ranking. We have improved a lot recently in the ranking and this means that our targets have been accomplished and we want to continue winning in the next matches.”