Organisers satisfied after first week of Asian Cup

DOHA - Although just over a week has been played at the Asian Cup, organisers are already saying it has been a success.

The competitions director of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Tokuaki Suzuki, told DPA that they were very pleased.

“We are very satisfied with the standard of the performance of the teams. Most of the matches have been very exciting and the teams have used positive play.”

“The spectators love Asian football and the atmosphere in the stadiums has been good.”

“Sometimes we still need more spectators, but generally speaking we are very happy with the atmosphere of the spectators in the stadium.”

“In terms of the match organization on the pitch I think it is almost perfect. It is very well controlled in terms of kick-off times. In fact, all the match organization is very, very good,” he said.

Suzuki said that organisers had set themselves the goal of hosting the best-ever Asian Cup. “Our target is not only an excellent competition in terms of the Asian level, we are looking at the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Champions League and Euro level.

“We want to do it on the same level as FIFA and UEFA and we believe we can achieve that.”

He said that even though the standard of play has been very high, that was one of the aspects, where there was room for improvement.

“The Asian level is not in the top level in the world. It is in the middle, but with teams like Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Australia and the other countries we have potential.”

“We need to improve our technical standard, but we believe we can make it.”

Suzuki said the organisers had noted the special effort Qatar was making with security. “There have been proper security arrangements, sometimes they are very strict, but we have to make sure that everybody is protected.”

The oil-rich Gulf country will be hosting the 2022 World Cup and Suzuki believes the Asian Cup is ideal to test the waters for the World Cup.

“Organisation-wise I think they are ready but in terms of other things, including the spectators, there needs to be improvements. But we have the time and they will be ready for the World Cup 2022.”

“I think it has been a successful trial run and it is definitely a good competition for the Qataris to learn about international competitions.”

“We need to improve a lot, but we have the confidence to do it. Some of the concerns are that we need to have the facilities that are in line with FIFA regulations and then there needs to be enthusiasm from the fans.

“Possibly we need more hotels, but I am confident that everything will be in place for the World Cup in 2022.”