HANOI - Qatar coach Dzemaludin Musovic is sweating on the fitness of Al Sadd midfielder Wesam Rizik ahead of the AFC Asian Group B opener against defending champions Japan on Sunday.
The 26-year-old former Qatar Sports Club midfielder missed the majority of the 2006/07 season through injury and suffered a setback during the team’s pre-tournament training camp in Thailand.
Musovic, who worked under Japan coach Ivica Osim as the Yugoslavia national team reached the quarter-finals of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy, is also concerned over the fitness of Sebastian Soria after the Uruguayan-born striker limped out of training on Saturday.
"We have a delicate situation and we must wait until the last possible moment to make decisions. Maybe we will be able to resolve the problem with one player but I am not sure if we will be able to resolve the problem with all the players," said the 62-year-old coach.
"We will have to decide before the game about Wesam, but I believe Sebastian will be ready for the game.
"He (Rizik) was injured during a friendly game in Thailand and maybe he will be ready to play, but the question is how long he will be able to play for.
"But a positive thing for us is that we have a large group of players. If one player is unavailable this is not a problem, we do not only have 11 or 14 players we have around 20 good players who can start in this competition."
Musovic, who guided Qatar to the Asian Games gold medal in Doha last year, believes his side have the quality to challenge the two-time defending champions and prove they can compete with the best teams in Asia.
"We have had six months to prepare and I have told the players it is now time for the Qatar national team to show that we can not only win in Doha and not only win against the medium teams in Asia, but against the best," he added.
"Our target is to reach the second round. Everybody believes that Japan are the strongest team and that they are the favourites for this game and the whole competition, but the result is open and nobody knows how it will finish.
"Japan have excellent individual players, but they do not have one or two who are the stars of the team; the football they play is as a team. They have (Shunsuke) Nakamura who can take a free-kick or make a good pass to create a goal, but they also have many good players who can create problems and that is why they are one of the best teams in Asia."
The former Al Sadd and Qatar SC coach is also well aware a setback at the My Dinh National Stadium would not end his side’s AFC Asian Cup challenge and pointed towards the final group game against Gulf Cup champions UAE at Ho Chi Minh City’s Army Stadium on July 16 as the pivotal game.
"The result in the first game against Japan is very important, but we also have to play against Vietnam and the Emirates in the last game and I believe this game will decide who will go into the second round," he said.
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