U-19s seek quarter-final berth

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Thursday, October 20th 2016 10:18 AM

MANAMA, Bahrain: Qatar coach Oscar Cano wants his team to adopt an attacking game against Japan on Thursday when the two sides meet in the AFC U-19 Asian Cup. Qatar drew 1-1 against Iran on Friday followed by 1-0 win against Yemen two days ago. “I’m not happy with the efficiency from our attackers but the important thing is that we are creating chances,” said Cano. “I full trust in our three strikers, Abdulrasheed, Hassan (Ahmad) Palang and Sayed (Issa) and if they keep on working, the goals will come. “Japan are a different opponent to the teams we’ve faced so far, they have another style of play that makes their senior team one of the favourites to win the Asian Cup. “We will try to make them uncomfortable on the pitch and make sure they don’t have as much possession as they’d like. “It will be a nice game despite the pressure because both teams are playing for qualification". Meanwhile, Japan, who have finished runners-up on six different occasions but have never won the tournament, are keen to recover from a gritty goalless draw against the IR Iran on Monday. “Of course we wanted to win and get three points against Iran but we’re okay with a draw” said coach Atsushi Uchiyama. “We knew it was going to be a tough game but before the tournament began, I was predicting that we would need to play all three games to decide who would qualify from this group. “This game against Qatar will be decisive so I need to decide which are the best eleven players for my team, taking into consideration the conditions and fatigue. I am open to changing some players".