"I cannot express my feelings regarding what we have done. I'm ecstatic because we brought happiness to our fans and gave them a lift,"Â said Rajab, who scored the only goal with a header in the 62nd minute.
Forward Sebastian Quintana, who scored four goals to help Qatar reach the final, was also elated. "The victory has a special taste,"Â he said.
"It's very important for Qatar and to win the last gold medal of the Asian Games was something really special for us. This is something we've been looking for and it came in the first tournament I played representing Qatar. I hope to win more tournaments in the future.
"To win this tournament was not an easy thing. It got complicated when we lost to Uzbekistan [1-0] in the first round but we were always confident of this group of players and knew we could handle things in a good way."Â
Qatar captain Abdulla Obaid Koni was superb in defence throughout and added: "This is the best feeling I've ever had as a footballer. You don't win gold medals every day and I hope there are more victories to come in the future for Qatar."Â
Dzemaludin Musovic, Qatar's Bosnian coach, underlined the importance of the support from the home side's fans, who packed the Al-Sadd Football Stadium.
"Today we had 12 players in the team because of the support from the stadium. The fans supported us non-stop. Football is the most popular sport in this country so the result is for everyone. The country is investing heavily in sport and this is good for football. It's good for future generations. The result will lead to a better future in football for Qatar."Â
Musovic also had words of praise for silver medallists Iraq. "Iraq played well. They were the best team we have played against in this tournament and we have beaten them.
"We lost the first 45 minutes [in terms of performance] but we have a very young team. I didn't do much in half time but our performance became better. I just told the players that it is just football and not to concentrate on the medal."Â
Iraq's coach Yahya Manhel was not too despondent with defeat and looked to the future. "Coming second in such an important competition with most of our players under 21 is a really good start and we can be really hopeful for the future,"Â Manhel said.
"Had Iraq won it would have made a great impact on Iraq and the Iraqi people, because they were waiting for the gold medal."Â
15th Asian Games, Doha 2006
Posted December 17th, 2006 by COBA
