By Samindra Kunti in Doha
December 10 – In the last eight of the FIFA Arab Cup, hosts Qatar will take on rivals the United Arab Emirates on Friday seeking to build on their convincing group-stage form while Morocco and Algeria headline Saturday’s action.
The Asian champions progressed from their group unbeaten after victories against Bahrain, Iraq and Oman, but coach Felix Sanchez has implored his team to step up their game against Bert Van Marwijk’s eleven, who finished runners-up behind Tunisia in Group B.
“The past results don’t give you guarantee for matches in the future,” said Qatar Sanchez. “The past doesn’t mean anything to us. I think we were in a difficult group which was even. The teams, which were from our region, have always been difficult. Taking three victories from that group means a lot.”
“It is going to be a different match and a different scenario. The Emirates team will play to win and we will do the same. We need to show tomorrow [today] that we deserve to be in the next round,” Sanchez continued.
Morocco were the other team with a perfect record in the group stages and they have quickly become the big favourites to win the competition, but they will find stern opposition in Algeria, who are on an unbeaten run of more than 30 matches.
In the other quarter-finals, Tunisia will be favourites against Oman and Egypt face Jordan.
The Arab Cup will culminate with the final on December 18, Qatar’s national day and exactly a year before the 2022 World Cup final. The tournament serves as a dress rehearsal for the main competition, allowing local organisers to streamline preparations.
In the past, the Confederations Cup, last staged in 2017 in Russia, fulfilled the role of warm-up event, but FIFA dropped the unloved tournament from the calendar and adopted the Arab Cup, in its 10th iteration, to hand Qatari organisers another dry run.
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