Recently appointed Qatar coach Paulo Autuori praised his predecessor Sebastiao Lazaroni for leaving him a strong team that is on the verge of advancing to the final group phase of the Asian zone World Cup qualification stage.

“I have a great deal of confidence in my players’ ability to make it through our next match in Iran, we are trying to instill the needed amount of confidence and experience in this stage, we will have the advantage of having many players from Al Sadd who have done really well recently, this of course boosts our chances to produce a solid display in Azadi”, said the Brazilian.

He then added, “Whether it is the first team or the Olympic, we are facing a one way situation, winning is mandatory”.

“We have a large number of players that are capable of breaking through into the starting line-up, this creates a competitive atmosphere, which is always a good thing”.

A friendly with Lebanon was scheduled o the 23^rd of this month, but was cancelled out of fear of injuries according to the Brazilian.