The Experts Say...

Rhodri Williams, Al Kass Analyst, on PSG vs Kashiwa Reysol, “It’s always exciting when this tournament starts.
There is added excitement this year because of some new changes - we’ve got VAR being used, and then you see the president of the Qatar Football Association here, you see Pierluigi Collina, the most famous referee in the world here with FIFA. It was nice to see the first game with PSG - they’ve won it three times and are the reigning champions.
start because they always give tremendous performances. Also, Kashiwa Reysol are always playing exciting football.
Sometimes opening games can be a little bit cautious, but I’m glad that we saw a good game and two goals. I think 1-1 was probably a fair reflection of the match.”

Nick Summerbee, Al Kass Analyst, on Aspire Academy vs Raja Club Athletic, "We saw quite a few interesting situations in the game – it was a bit of a learning curve for Aspire. They lost a couple of players, so it was difficult for them. When you’re on your way to being a professional footballer to play with your first team, you make a lot of mistakes along the way.

Sometimes you lose your cool. You have got to learn to handle situations like that.We had a lot of Tunisian and Moroccan fans; they have a lot of passion for football and we should always bring them into the competition because of what they do.

They sing all the way, they get into the party atmosphere, and that will help them a lot. We have just seen a wonderful atmosphere with Qatar winning the Asian Cup.

We want crowds and we want people enjoying football. “