Qatar deny playing mind games with Japan

Qatar team coach Dzemaludin Musovic(L) talks with an aid during a training session in Hanoi. Musovic said Saturday there was no mind games behind his side's late arrival here for their Asian Cup opener against champions Japan on Monday.

Qatar coach Dzemaludin Musovic said Saturday there was no mind games behind his side's late arrival here for their Asian Cup opener against champions Japan on Monday.

Qatar, who won the Asian Games title under the Bosnian coach, flew in late Friday from Bangkok where they underwent camp training for 10 days in similarly hot and humid weather.

"How many days do you think one team must come before match day? Just two days and that's enough," Musovic said after Qatar practiced for the first time at the My Dinh National Stadium, the site of Group B matches.

They postponed their arrival twice by a total two days without giving specific reasons, according to the Asian Football Confederation media office.

The move was seen by some Japanese media as Qatari mind games aimed at keeping themselves under wraps.

Japan are coached by another Bosnian Ivica Osim who led the former Yugoslavia to the 1990 World Cup quarter-finals with Musovic as his assistant.

"We've come in time according to our programme," Musovic said. "Nothing is special. Everything is normal."

Musovic said his side had a few injury problems, including a fresh casualty on Saturday. He did not name the injured.

The team has already lost midfielder Khalfan Ibrahim, the current Asian Player of the Year, to injury.

Uruguay-born striker Sebastian Soria was wearing an ice pack on his left leg after the practice, but Musovic said: "It was no danger. He will train tomorrow for sure."

Soria added: "We know it will be difficult playing Japan. But we have confidence."