|
Abu Dhabi: Bosnian Dzemaluddin Musovic, the head coach of defending champions Qatar, said that winning the Gulf Cup is not among his team's priorities.
Qatar will come to the UAE to take part in the 18th Gulf Cup in Abu Dhabi from January 17 to defend the title they won at home in 2004.
They will compete in the second group against Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Bahrain.
"The Gulf Cup is but a phase of preparing our team for the finals of the 2007 Asian Cup," Musovic said on Wednesday.
"Our priorities are the finals of the 2010 World Cup, the 2007 Asian Cup and the 2008 Olympic Games in China," Musovic said.
Musovic said that he has 26 players at the moment but he will take only 22 to Abu Dhabi next week for the tournament.
"I realise the pressures upon my team, being the defending champions, and especially after winning the gold medal at the Asian Games last month.
"I have met the players many times to prepare them psychologically to overcome these pressures,"Musovic added.
Two weeks ago, Shaikh Hamad Al Thani, the Chairman of QFA, was also quoted saying that the Gulf Cup is not important but he later denied making such comments.
The workshop and Cooper tests of the referees nominated to officiate the matches of the Gulf Cup will commence today for three days.
Ten referees will officiate the matches.
One referee will come from each of the participating teams in addition to three neutral officials: Michel Lubos from Slovakia, Massimo Busacca from Switzerland and Mohammad Salleh Subkhiddin from Malaysia.
The other referees are: Ali Hamad (UAE), Sa'ad Kameel (Kuwait), Abdul Rahman Mohammad (Qatar), Abdullah Al Hilali (Oman), Khalil Ebrahim Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia), Jasim Mahmoud (Bahrain), Mukhtar Saleh (Yemen) and Alaa Abdul Gadir from Iraq.
The assistant referees are: Eissa Darwish (UAE), Faisal Al Rubaian (Kuwait), Salah Mansour (Qatar), Abdullah Al Amoudi (Oman), Mohammad Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia), Akbar Hussain (Bahrain), Ahmad Qayed (Yemen) and Mohammad Kazim from Iraq.
|
