Jan Kocian wants Yemen to dream of big victories at Asian Cup
Yemen manager Jan Kocian says the
Asian Cup debutants are dreaming of upsetting the more established teams at
this month’s tournament in the UAE.
The Middle Eastern side, the
lowest-ranked team in the competition at 135th in the world, begin their Group
D campaign next Monday against Iran, the continent’s top team at 29th, in Abu
Dhabi.
Following that, Yemen take on Iraq
in Sharjah on January 12 before rounding off the group four days later against
Vietnam in Al Ain. Only the top two teams in each pool are guaranteed to
progress, alongside the four best third-placed sides.
For Yemen, simply qualifying for
Asia’s premier football event represents success in itself.
Political turmoil has afflicted
the war-torn country, and the national league has since been suspended, with
the team unable to play any matches until November having sealed a place at the
tournament eight months beforehand.
“The target now is not easy,”
Kocian said. “We are newcomers in this Asian Cup and want the best. Normally
you want to win a game, but we can dream as a small country.
"Yemen can dream of big
victories against Iran and Iraq. It’s normal. It may not be real, but we will
try. The target is we want to win.”
Kocian conceded his side is not
packed with the finest talent Asia has to offer – Dibba Al Fujairah winger
Abdulwasea Al Matari is arguably their standout player – but hailed a strong
collective as reason for optimism heading into the expanded 24-team event.
The vastly experienced Slovak,
appointed only in October, is not able to reside in Yemen given the political
situation there. However, he has worked with his team at training camps in
Saudi Arabia and Qatar, did see positives in the recent friendly defeats – both
narrow – to Saudi and the UAE. On Sunday, Yemen lost 1-0 to Syria in Abu Dhabi.
Kocian, who has previously managed
Slovakia amid a nomadic managerial career, is keen to hear some support in the
stands when his side kick off their tournament next week against the
much-favoured Iran at the Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium.
He is also hoping his team can
bring a little bit of cheer, however small, to their compatriots back home.
“I’m very happy to see people from
Yemen in the UAE and Saudi,” Kocian said. “For people in Yemen the situation is
very bad, for those who stay there the life is very hard. But maybe with
victory we can give a good representation of them in the Asian Cup.
“We have Iran, Iraq, Vietnam: all
the teams are very strong. But we are good defensively and have good team
spirit. I won’t tell you we will win, but we want to.”
Defence and team spirit will help Yemen on Asian Cup debut
Defence and team spirit will help Yemen on Asian Cup debut