Hangzhou, China: On Wednesday, coach Ildio Vale highlighted that his team faced a tough opening match against an impressive Japanese side in the football event at the Asian Games 2023 and that they will look to improve in their remaining group match against Palestine. Despite scoring In the second half to narrow the deficit, Qatar conceded late in the match that ended with a scoreline of 1-3, with sights set on their second and final group match against Palestine on Friday. "Japan are a solid team; their quality was evident throughout the match, and they made things difficult for us by scoring early. We did try to initiate a comeback and actually scored to make it a one-goal match, but unfortunately, they scored a third goal; I can't help but feel that we were unlucky in some parts of the game.", the Portuguese said in the post-match press conference. "Going into the second half, I did make some changes to the line-up while also trying to maintain the shape and balance of the team. We played well, perhaps not as well as the games we played in the qualifiers, but I think it was a decent performance, which we will try to build upon before our next game". "It's not the optimal start for us, but this is just the beginning of our tournament," he added. Speaking on the compact nature of his team's schedule, Vale said: "I Don't Understand How we're the only team to get only one day of rest; we'll play on Friday against Palestine, who have yet to play a single match! We're the only team in the tournament with such a packed schedule".