RIO DE JANEIRO: Abdulaziz Hatim has urged his team mates to exhibit a fighting show when Asian Cup champions Qatar make their Copa America debut this week.

Qatar, who won the Asian Cup in February, will play matches against former World Cup champions Argentina, Columbia and Paraguay in the 12–team event starting on June 14.

Japan and Qatar are the two invited teams for the oldest football tournament in the world.

Hatim said after yesterday’s training: “The Qatari team enters the tournament as the champions of Asia, and we hope that our team is the best representative of this despite the strength and difficulty of the group.”

Al Anabi conducted a team training camp in Rio two weeks ago. On their way to Brazil, Qatar also had a training camp in Texas, the United States.

Qatar featured in an international friendly against Brazil on June 5 followed by a 2-1 win over a club four days later.

Hatim said that the match played by Qatar against Brazil was good learning experience.

“Our team presented a good fighting game in their freindly against a strong and top-class team in the world,” he noted.

“Without a doubt, the loss against Brazil does not diminish our hopes as we could have done better than the 2-0 score suggests,” he added.

Qatar, who missed a penalty against Brazil, open against Paraguay on June 16