Afif scored twice with Almoez Ali contributing the third as the defending champions opened their AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023™ Group A campaign in style at the Lusail Stadium.
Afif produced yet another match-winning performance, leading to questions at the post-match press conference about him playing club football in Europe.

“Every player wants to play in Europe. If I can get a chance to play, I would want to go tomorrow. But this is not about Akram alone; it’s about my country and that is my first priority,” said the 2019 AFC Player of the Year.Afif and Ali played vital roles in Qatar’s 2019 triumph but the 27-year-old winger said defending their title would need a team effort.

“Almoez is a very important player. However, we cannot play with just Almoez and myself against 11 other players. We are all brothers and we help each other. It’s about the 11 players on the field.

“I would like to dedicate the win to the fans. We tried to follow the coaches’ instructions as much as possible. Congratulations to our fans!”
Head coach Marquez Lopez said he was glad Qatar opened their campaign with a win.

“I’m happy for the players and for the fans. I’m happy for the 80,000 fans who came and supported us, and I’m happy we controlled the game and the result is not a surprise for me.

“We will take it step by step. We still have two matches in the group stage to qualify, and we must not think too much.

“We did our homework against the Lebanese team, and there were no surprises. We tried to play our own game and accomplish our objectives. I’m satisfied with the performance and this is the path we should take. However, there is always room for improvement.” Lebanon head coach Miodrag Radulovic said his players paid the price for not putting their chances away.

“We had our chances but couldn’t score. It’s an old football rule that if you don’t score, you lose. Unfortunately, we conceded at the worst time, just before half-time,” he said.

“In the second half, we tried and created chances but couldn’t score. I’m satisfied with the players’ fight and effort. We were up against a team with significant experience, and the punishment was too high. We’ll try to recover well for the next match.”

Lebanon, seeking to qualify for the knockout stage for the first time, play China PR next on Wednesday while Qatar will aim for another three points when they entertain tournament debutants Tajikistan.