Qatar Football Association
A confident Qatar will take on El Salvador in the Concacaf Gold Cup quarter-finals at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, Saturday (2:30 am Qatar time). While the match marks the first-ever official matchup between the two sides, El Salvador and Qatar are already familiar with each other from their friendly last month played in Croatia. Qatar managed a 1-0 victory.
The maroons attacking prowess was quite evident throughout the group stage; No team scored more goals than the reigning Asian champions in the group stage, with nine goals as they took the top spot in Group D.
Almoez Ali already has two goals in the tournament and was the man that provided that winning score in the friendly versus El Salvador last month. Meanwhile, Akram Afif has two goals, two assists, and Pedro Miguel has a pair of assists and leads the team with the most fouls received (8).
Felix Sanchez’s men were impressive in the group stage, where they were unbeaten after wins over Grenada (4-0) and Honduras (2-0) besides playing a thrilling 3-3 draw against Panama in their opening game.
As for El Salvador, they have already made history in this Gold Cup by winning two group stage matches for the first time, finishing second in Group A, and now they will be seeking another historical mark with a first-ever quarter-final victory.
Under new Head Coach Hugo Perez, El Salvador have found their attacking stride and players like Jairo Henriquez and Joaquin Rivas have each found a goal thus far in the tournament, while Walmer Martinez has provided a spark off the bench, including a goal in the group stage versus Trinidad and Tobago.