DOHA: After firing Qatar to a convincing 3-1 victory in the opening

day of the AFC U-23 Championship currently taking place in Qatar;

Captain Abdulakarim Hassan said repeating tonight’s second half

display in the remaining Group A matches would certainly help Qatar

to advance to the knockout stage.

China went to thelocker-roomon halftime with a 1-0 lead against the

run of play; However; Hassan spearheaded Qatar’s second half comeback

by scoring two decisive goals in less than five minutes, before substitute

Ahmed Alaa’ sealed the game on 82 minutes.

“Despite having ball position for most parts of the first half, I think we

started the game rather slowly, we failed to construct in midfield thus

our forwards were isolated in the last third of the pitch”, Hassan said

after the game.

“The introduction of Ali Asad certainly helped us immensely in the second

half, he is askillfulplayer with many attributesandoptions, and as soon as we

equalized, we knew we would seal the game eventually”.

He added “we promise our fans we will give it our best to go as far as

we can and ultimately book a place in Rio, and in order to do so, we

cannot afford any sluggish displays”.

Qatar will next take on Iran on January 15 before playing Syria on the

18^th of the same month.

In an earlier Group A clash, football powerhouse Iran fired two second-half

goals to crush Syria 2-0 at the Al Sadd Stadium in what was the first game

of the event.

The top three sides at the Jan 12-30 event will seal a berth each at the

football competition at the 2016 Olympic Games to be held in Rio de

Janiero.