Pune, June 22 (IANS) India have to beat Qatar by two goals or more in their return-leg match of the pre-Olympic qualifier here Thursday to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the 2012
London Olympics.
India lost the first leg of the second round encounter 1-3 despite taking an early lead and now have to beat
Qatar by 2-0 to move to the third round.
Coach Desmond Bulpin knows that his boys are facing a tough task at the Balewadi Stadium, but it is not impossible. In the
Asian Games, they led 1-0 till the 80th minute, but Qatar, 2006
Asian Games champion, came back strongly to win the match 2-1.
‘That (an away) is a cushion, but we cannot rest on that.
Qatar are well above us in rankings and are very fit, athletic and technically sound.
‘We should really look at what is on immediate platter. We have a goal — to win 2-0 — but that is no way a simple task. They (Qatar) will have to play real bad for us to beat them,’ said Bulpin.
The Englishman feels that soggy turf at Balewadi, due to intermittent rain can help the Indians, but only little.
‘The rain may just give us a slight edge, not a distinct one. Qatar are superior to us in all respects. Let’s not forget that and carry from there on. We will need a big push to be able to get the desired result,’ said Bulpin.
Jeje, who gave
India the early lead in the seventh minute, said the team has to move on from the loss in
Doha.
‘We should forget the past fast. We need to look ahead. That’s football,’ says Jeje.
Skipper Raju Gaekwad said India have to be careful against Qatar’s counter attack.
‘We will play for win. We have to go all out. There aren’t many other options left. But we need to be careful when they counter-attack. They are very good in passing the ball,’ said the defender.
An eight-hour wait at the Doha
International Airport, awaiting landing clearance at Pune, had taken a toll on the Qatar team, which arrived here early in the morning.
Their French coach Bernard Simondi said that his boys are tired.
‘Since we arrived only this morning, the players are all tired from journey, and since we will get just one session to practice, it might be little difficult to adjust, but that should not be an excuse,’ said the 57-year-old Simondi.
‘We practiced a lot by playing friendlies against gulf countries and then went to
Madrid for a fortnight-long training. That really helped us put together a team of this calibre,’ he said.
