29 Aug 2016
Doha, 29 August 2016: Qatar U-19 team notched up their first win in the ongoing GCC Football Championship courtesy of a first half goal scored by Sayed Issa against Bahrain. The match was played on Monday 29th August in the afternoon in Aspire Dome and the victory leaves the hosts, Qatar with a chance to reach six points should they win again in their last match against Saudi Arabia on Friday 2nd September.
After going down by similar score-line in the previous two games, the Qatar team of whom 23 of 24 squad are either current or former student-athletes of Aspire Academy dominated the match against Bahrain, creating numerous chances. Qatar team manager Oscar Cano bemoaned some of the indecision shown by his players in the final third and in front of goal, “On another day it could easily have been five or six goals that we could have scored today but l am pleased that we played better and had less pressure on our shoulders in this match and were able to get our first win of the championship”, said Cano.
Traditionally Qatar does not done well in this tournament and the players were keen to change that and the pressure they put themselves through in the first two games might have prevented them from playing as well as they are capable of. But now that we have beaten Bahrain we would like to end the championship with an even better performance against Saudi Arabia on Friday “, concluded Cano.
The biannual GCC U-19 Championship runs from 24th August to 2nd September and this year serves as a dress rehearsal and preparation opportunity for the upcoming AFC U19 Championship that is going to take place in Bahrain in October. Apart from hosts Qatari the other participating teams are United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Qatar completes its championship schedule with a match on Friday 2nd September h against Saudi Arabia.
Fixtures
2016 GCC U19 Football Championship, Aspire Dome:
Wednesday, 24/8/2016: Qatar vs UAE (4pm)
Wednesday, 24/8/2016: Bahrain vs Oman (6:40pm)
Friday, 26/8/2016: UAE vs Saudi Arabia (4pm)
Friday, 26/8/2016: Oman vs Qatar (6:40pm)
Monday, 29/8/2016: Qatar vs Bahrain (4pm)
Monday, 29/8/2016: Saudi Arabia vs Oman (6:40pm)
Wednesday, 31/8/2016: Oman vs UAE (4pm)
Wednesday, 31/8/2016: Bahrain vs Saudi Arabia (6:40pm)
Friday, 2/9/2016: UAE vs Bahrain (4pm)
Friday, 2/9/2016: Saudi Arabia vs Qatar (6:40pm)