Doha: Asian Cup Qatar – 2011 Kicks Off With Inspiring Opening Ceremony
by Alexis Castelino
Daijiworld Media Network – Doha (SP)

Doha, Jan 8:  Asian Cup Qatar – 2011, a premier tournament, got underway in Qatar on Friday January 7 with an awe-inspiring opening ceremony at the Khalifa Stadium.

The stadium lights dimmed, but the darkness was only momentary as first hundreds of camera flashes from the packed-to-capacity terraces and then some light fireworks signalled the start of the ceremony.

In a first for a sporting event in Qatar, the crowd was invited to sing the country’s national anthem, which the announcer proposed as a very special gift for His Royal Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani.

And as the Emir entered, the spectators responded with an enthusiastic rendition of As Salam al Amiri, before the spotlight shone on an elderly gentleman and child, who addressed the Qatari ruler, praising him for his efforts in developing the nation.

It was a surprisingly low key and humble start to the opening ceremony of a major sporting event, and was to give no hint of what was to come as a stunning laser light show that was more sci-fi than soccer followed.

With what appeared to be a light sabre borrowed from the Star Wars movies, a light pitch was created, onto which the flags of the 16 competing nations were projected. A hypnotic laser and light display followed on the pitch while Doha’s sky was illuminated with a variety of phosphorescent hues as the ceremony ended with a crescendo of pyrotechnics.

This was followed by the opening match of the tournament between Qatar and Uzbekistan, in which Uzbekistan cruised to a comfortable 2-0 victory. Bruno Metsu was the team coach of Qatar with Abdelrahman Ali Mahmoud as the team manager.  Vadim Abramov was the team coach of Uzbekistan with Askar Talipdjanov as the team manager. In the 58th minute, the midfielder of Uzbekistan, Odil Akhmedov, scored the first goal for his country. Uzbekistan dominated for much of the encounter, but it needed a sublime goal from Odil Akhmedov to give them the lead just before the hour before Server Djeparov sealed the points with a predatory strike in the 77th minute.

The result ensured that the vast majority of the crowd of over 37,000 were utterly disappointed and perhaps gave Bruno Metsu an indication of the task he faces to take Qatar through to the knockout stages from a tricky Group A that also contains Kuwait and China.

The hosts had made a promising start to the match and were the first to threaten in the opening minutes as Hussein Yasser delivered a cross into the area that Fabio Cesar nodded the wrong side of the post.

But Uzbekistan quickly found their feet and twice threatened to cause an early upset with Alexander Geynrikh at the centre of both opportunities.

First, the Pakhtakor striker struck the angle of the upright in the seventh minute after being found unmarked in the area from a smart cut-back by Djeparov, and seconds later, he sprung the offside trap to race towards goal but opted to feed a pass to the onrushing Jasur Khasanov and the midfielder could only poke his shot into the body of keeper Qasem Burhan.

Uzbekistan again came close after 18 minutes, when Maksim Shatskikh played a low cross into the area that evaded the hands of Burhan and ran through to the unmarked Khasanov, whose drilled effort was deflected wide by Bilal Mohammed.

The pace of the game slowed down after that, but the hosts came close to snatching the lead six minutes before the break as Sebastian Soria was fouled 25 yards from goal and Fabio Cesar stepped up to curl a free-kick that smashed against the woodwork.

The Qataris had another chance soon after the restart, as Soria beat Uzbek keeper Ignatiy Nesterov to the ball before lofting a pass into the area for Yasser, whose goal-bound lob was hooked clear by Sakhob Juraev.

But instead it was the Uzbeks who took the lead shortly before the hour with a stunning 35-yard strike by Akhmedov as the Pakhtakor midfielder raced onto a pass from Azizbek Haydarov and rifled a shot that struck the underside of the crossbar before nestling inside the Qatar goal.

Uzbekistan then capitalised on some slack defending by Qatar to wrap up the three points 13 minutes from time as Djeparov pounced on poor pass across the back to drive a first-time shot beyond Burhan.