KUWAIT CITY: Defending champions Qatar will play an attacking game when they take on Bahrain in their third and final Group B clash at the Gulf Cup on Friday, coach Felix Sanchez said on Thursday.

A win on Friday will take Qatar into the semi-finals of the eight-team tournament though a draw will be enough to secure Bahrain their last-four berth.

In their two matches, three-time Gulf Cup champions Qatar have beaten Yemen 4-0 but Al Anabi lost to Iraq 2-1 after a feisty battle on Tuesday.

Bahrain, coached by Miroslav Soukup, drew with Iraq 1-1 in their opening game but edged Yemen 1-0 in their second clash to be one point ahead of the 2014 Gulf Cup champions.

Qatar coach Sanchez has urged his players to go for a winning performance.

“I am 100 percent sure we will play an aggressive game tomorrow and get the result we are looking for. We have to go for the win,” Sanchez said on Thursday. The team is motivated to face the final (game of the preliminary stage),” the Spaniard added.

“We are motivated to play well and to get the result we need,” Sanchez said defiantly. “In think so far the team is in a positive frame of mind,” the Qatar coach said.

Sanchez said Qatar’s 2-1 loss against Iraq had many positives for his young side.

“The team showed great personality in the match against Iraq. They (the players) tried to perform to the best of their ability. We could not win in the second game but I know they tried hard. They gave their best on the pitch. The team is fit and hopefully we will do better against Bahrain,” Sanchez said.

The Qatar coach – who has coached most of the U-23 players in the national squad – said his team still has a day to rest and recover for the crunch match at Kuwait Sports Club Stadium.

“In think it is a short tournament. so many matches are played within a short period of time. Only thing we can do is recover as fast as possible after every game. Physically we still have one more day to rest and recover before we take on Bahrain,” Sanchez said.

Bahrain coach Miroslav Soukup said Qatar clash would be a big battle.

“We respect their quality because they are the 2014 Gulf Cup champions. They have very good players and don’t forget we saw their game against Iraq (on Tuesday). The quality was evident on both sides. Qatar had a chance to win the match. They scored first,” Soukup said on Thursday.

“Compared to Qatar, our situation is still positive since we have one more point than Qatar. We also have a chance to qualify for the semi-finals since we want to repeat Iraq performance we had in the first match of the tournament,” he said.

The match will begin at 6:30pm on Friday. The same day Iraq will play bottom-placed Yemen in another Group B clash.