Qatar's Ali Asad (left) in action during the match against Haiti, yesterday.
Doha: Qatar head coach Carlos Queiroz yesterday questioned refereeing decisions after his Asian champions suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Haiti in their opening match of the CONCACAF Gold Cup in Houston.
The veteran coach hit out at Jamaican referee Daneon Parchment for denying Qatar a penalty in the second half at NRG Stadium. With the match leveled at 1-1, substitute Tamim Mansour was brought down by Haiti midfielder Bryan Alceus in the 68th minute.
The referee immediately showed yellow card to the young Qatari forward and stood by his decision after a VAR check.
“Not a good refereeing at all because it was a clear penalty. There were different criteria [in the match]. The referee stopped the game because one player needed to tie his shoe but after he didn’t stop the game to assist a player who had a concussion. I don’t understand that, we are always learning in the game,” Queiroz said in a post match interview.
Qatar had a strong start in the match and Yusuf Abdurisag put them ahead in the 20th minute, scoring from inside the box with a curling ball. Haiti equalised the score through a Duckens Nazon penalty in 44th minute with Frantzdy Pierrot scoring the winner for Haiti in 90+7 minutes.
Qatar maintained a better ball possession and created several chances to score in the match, and the head coach was satisfied with team’s overall performance despite the defeat.
“The players played well and built a lot of opportunities. We played against the players who are very powerful and strong with speed. But, unfortunately, I think the game was not fair for us,” he added.
Meanwhile, defender Bassam Al Rawi hoped the loss will motivate the team to work harder and earn wins in the remaining group matches.
“This was not the result we were hoping for, but we have a new group of players and a promising future ahead. However, we must learn from our mistakes,” said Al Rawi.
“I hope this loss will give us the morale boost to perform at our best in the future. Unfortunately, as you have seen, we missed many chances in front of the goal,” he added.
Qatar will now play Honduras on June 30 (2:45am, Qatar time) at State Farm Stadium in Glendale before facing eight-time champions Mexico in their final Group B game on July 3 (4:00am) at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
