Qatar coach Felix Sanchez (left) along with other coaches during the pre-tournament press conference yesterday. Picture: Anas Khalid

By Sports Reporter/Doha


The inaugural West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U23 Championship kicks off today in Doha at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, with all the ten participating teams looking at it as a preparatory event for the upcoming AFC U23 Cup which too will be held in Doha in January.
Qatar has been slotted in Group A along with Jordan, Palestine and Yemen. Qatar coach Felix Sanchez knows that it will be a tough tournament but says his focus is on team building with an eye on the big event in January. “We take this tournament as a good test for us. It will be a good preparation for the Asian Cup in January. These are good games and will help us gauge our level and see where we are placed for the January event. We are looking forward to playing these games and hopefully we will produce a good performance,” said Sanchez during the pre-match press conference yesterday.
Sanchez said that building a team would take time but this tournament is a great chance for the players to gel together and get the rhythm going. “We have started a new process with this group of layers. It will be a mixed team with players that played in the World Cup in New Zealand and some new players. We need to see how the players gel together. Building this team will take time but tournaments like this one will be a great chance for players to do well together. Hopefully at the end of the tournament we will have an idea of where we are as a team,” he added.
Qatar will play their opening match today against Palestine who are fielding a young bunch of players with an eye on the future. “We thank the QAFF for giving us the chance to participate in this tournament. This is a great chance for us to prepare the team. We have never reached the finals of the Asian Cup but we are preparing the team for the future. It’s a great chance to see the preparedness of these young players – most of them have been born in 1996-97,” said Palestine coach Abdalfatah Arar yesterday.
“We know the level of Qatari football. They are very strong but we are ambitious and hopefully we will present and play good matches that will reflect the quality of Palestine football,” he added.
The opening match of the tournament will be between Jordan and Yemen. And the Yemen coach is looking to get past the difficulties back home and try and get a good result here.  “Everyone knows what’s happening in Yemen. Our team has faced a lot of difficulties, starting with the travel. Our team has been preparing only for one month but we have some promising young players. Hopefully they will put in a good performance and help us qualify. That’s our aim,” said Yemen coach Ameen al-Sunaini yesterday.
Another team that’s suffering conflict at home is Syria. And they are keen to use football to give some relief to the Syrian people. “In any country that is facing hardships, the people there will be looking forward to some happiness. And we are looking forward to putting some smiles on the faces of the Syrian people. Of course we cannot erase the pain but if we can get them to smile then we will be contributing a little bit towards our country,” said Syria coach Mohamed Alfakeer.