Doha, Qatar: Qatar are eyeing their third consecutive victory ahead of the AFC U23 Asian Cup quarter-finals as they take on Australia in their last Group A match at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium today.

The hosts, led by coach Ilidio Vale, became the first side to reach the last eight stage of the tournament after substitute Mohammad Al Mannai headed the last-gasp winner to give Qatar a 2-1 victory over Jordan on Thursday. They defeated Indonesia 2-0 in their opening match.

Vale has reposed confidence in his team’s formation, saying he was unlikely to do changes for the match to kick off at 6:30pm.

“As I have said before, I take each match one at a time,” he said. “I don’t think I will change the formation and system because we would like to secure nine points and first place, therefore all the players will want to (do their best) as well,” the Portuguese coach said ahead of the match.

Qatar though will be without Saifeldeen Hassan due to suspension after picking consecutive yellow cards in two games.

They will be up against a side, who are in a precarious situation, after a 1-0 defeat to Indonesia in their last game following a draw against Jordan.

Australia need a win against the home side while they will also hope today’s other match between Indonesia and Jordan ends in a draw to have a chance to progress to last eight.

“We have to rely on other results,” Australia coach Tony Vidmar said ahead of the game.

“We’ve got full belief in the squad that whichever team we put out there we can play to what we are capable of, which has happened in the two games. We just need to take our chances. That’s modern day football, that’s international football.”

Meanwhile, Jordan, who will meet Indonesia at Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium, are also in a similar situation as they hope to advance in the tournament.

“We know what is required for the upcoming match and I believe we will be able to win… hopefully we will be the lucky ones (this time); from the performance I saw (against Qatar), I am confident that we will be ready with the same spirit,” said Jordan coach Abdallah Abu Zema.

Debutants Indonesia – boosted by the return of midfielder Ivar Jenner from suspension – need a win to enter the quarter-finals with coach Shin Tae-yong hoping for an improved show.

“I will have a closer look into it (Jordan’s matches so far) and I will prepare (accordingly) for this match,” Shin said. “We had many deficiencies throughout this match (against Australia) and we are going to fix those.”

“We are going to keep developing and checking our performance level, and I think we can have a good performance against Jordan.”

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