Athletes said that the technical level of the start of the Asian Cup, which is currently being hosted by Qatar, did not live up to the quality of the technical levels presented by previous editions of the continental championship. They confirmed in an interview with “Emirates Today” that with the exception of the good technical performance of the teams of Saudi Arabia, South Korea, the Emirates, Iran, Iraq, Japan and Qatar, the rest of the other large teams did not perform at the expected level, but non-nominated teams presented good and surprising levels, including Bahrain, despite their loss to Korea. And also the national teams of Vietnam and Indonesia.
They stressed that among other points, the crowd attendance was not high in intensity at all matches, and the performance of most goalkeepers was below average and substandard, and no great talents appeared in the tournament until the end of the first round.
A tour without stars
International lecturer at the Football Association, Omar Al-Hammadi, confirmed that “the beginning of the tournament revealed a convergence in the levels of many teams,” and that “there is no strong candidate team yet.” He said: “The first round did not witness any major surprises, which was confirmed by the victory of the nominated teams that performed well and expectedly.” He also said: “The past matches did not reveal players who were unique in their stardom compared to previous tournaments. Likewise, the crowd attendance was not as strong as expected, with the exception of some matches, such as the match between Saudi Arabia and Oman, and Iraq with Indonesia.”
Beware of beginnings
In turn, the coach in Dibba Al-Fujairah, Muhammad Obaid Al-Khadeem, described that “most of the first round matches did not live up to the technical level expected for a large tournament the size of the Asian Cup.” He continued: “The appearance of the first round at an average level may be due to many reasons, including the cautious play of most teams and their desire not to reveal their potential early.”
Al-Khadeem said: “There are some beautiful artistic scenes that emerged from the first round matches, including the beautiful performance presented by the Bahrain team, despite its loss to South Korea 3-1, not to mention the high seriousness that led the Iraq team to win over Indonesia 3-1, as well as the distinguished level. “One of the young players in our national team, who played a great match against Hong Kong, which heralds a promising future for the team.”
Distinctive talents
Al-Taawoun Club’s first team coach, Badr Tabib Al-Shehhi, described the performance of most of the goalkeepers as “not successful, which negatively affected the results of their teams, due to the large number of goals scored in the first round,” noting that “it is surprising the technical performance provided by some East Asian teams.” Those who are not favourites, including the Vietnam team, which gave a very distinguished performance against Japan, and lost narrowly 4-2, as well as what the Malaysian team showed despite its loss to Jordan.
He also said: “This is in addition to some young faces that appeared from some teams, including the young elements in the “White” team, who performed well in the Hong Kong match, and were one of the reasons for winning the first round 3-1.”
Bader Al-Shehhi:
• Some of the young faces in the national team performed well against Hong Kong.
Muhammad Al-Khadeem:
• Most of the first round matches did not live up to the expected technical level.
Omar Al Hammadi:
• The beginning of the tournament revealed a convergence in the levels of many teams.
Highlights of the first round:
– Stars do not appear at significant levels.
– Young talents in “Al-Abyad” herald a promising future.
– Poor performance of most goalkeepers.
– A technical performance that did not rise to the championship level.
– Development in the level of non-nominated East Asian teams.
– Public attendance below expectations.
2024-01-17 22:06:11
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