Akram Afif celebrates after scoring Qatar’s third goal against Lebanon, on Friday. AFP
Doha, Qatar: Akram Afif grabbed limelight early in the Asian Cup, starring in Qatar’s 3-0 victory over Lebanon by scoring a brace in the opening match at Lusail Stadium.
The Al Sadd star, who made crucial contribution in Qatar’s maiden Asian Cup title win in 2019, proved to be the difference between the two sides on Friday night, according to Lebanon coach Miodrag Radulovic, who described him “one of the best players in Asia” after his match-winning performance.
The Qatar playmaker kept Lebanon under pressure throughout the match creating many opportunities for his teammates in addition to scoring two goals in the win, with striker Almoez Ali being the other scorer.
Afif came under the spotlight in a post match press conference after being named the most valuable player of the match as he spoke about his interest in returning to Europe where he had stints with Eupen, Villarreal and Sporting Gijon.
“Every player wants to play in Europe. If I can get a chance to play, I would want to go tomorrow. But this is not about Akram alone; it’s about my country and that is my first priority,” the 27-year-old said.
“We are all focusing on giving our best in the Asian Cup and retain the title,” the 2019 AFC Player of the Year added.
Together with Almoez, who scored a record nine goals in 2019 Asian Cup, Afif formed a lethal pair in the title triumph in UAE, but he said the entire team would have to work to win the tournament again.
“Almoez is a very important player. However, we cannot play with just Almoez and myself against 11 other players. We are all brothers and we help each other. It’s about the 11 players on the field,” he said.
Afif thanked Qatar’s fans for backing the team, saying their support is Al Annabi’s main strength as a record number of 82,490 spectators attended the inaugural match.
“I would like to dedicate the win to the fans. We tried to follow the coaches’ instructions as much as possible. Congratulations to our fans.”
Qatar now take on Tajikistan in their second group match on Wednesday with an eye on the Round of 16 stage.
Head coach Marquez Lopez, who expressed his content on Qatar’s performance against Lebanon, said the team will continue to work on improvement.
“We will take it step by step. We still have two matches in the group stage to qualify, and we must not think too much,” said the Spaniard, who took Qatar team’s charge last month.
“We did our homework against the Lebanese team, and there were no surprises. We tried to play our own game and accomplish our objectives. I’m satisfied with the performance and this is the path we should take. However, there is always room for improvement,” Lopez added.
