QH TAKES A LOOK AT THE HOST NATION’S FIFA WORLD CUP DEBUT
Long-serving coach Felix Sanchez on November 11 announced a strong 26-man FIFA World Cup squad that mainly consists of players who featured prominently in their victorious Asian Cup title triumph in 2019.
Sanchez, who has been with the Qatar national squad for more than four years, included feared goalpoachers Almoez Ali and Akram Afif, two of the heroes who guided Qatar to their historic Asian Cup triumph in the UAE.
Ali, the Most Valuable Player from the 2019 Asian Cup, and Afif are expected to lead the team on their historic World Cup debut match on November 20 when the hosts take on Ecuador at the imposing Al Bayt Stadium. Hosts Qatar are in Group A alongside Ecuador, Senegal and The Netherlands.
Ali, who plays for Qatar Stars League (QSL) side Al Duhail, has scored a staggering 42 goals in just 85 matches for the Qatari national team. He was the highest scorer of the 2019 Asian Cup when he found the net an astonishing 9 times at an event where Qatar beat Japan 3-1 in the final.
Afif, the Al Sadd star, will be expected to play as a winger but the 2019 AFC Asian Player of the Year can also be dangerous in the box. Afif, an integral part of the Qatar’s plans for every event they play, will need all possible help from experienced defender Abdelkarim Hassan, the 2018 Asian Player of the Year.
Also expected to lead the Qatari charge on the field of play will be captain Hassan Al Haydos who has played more than 160 matches for the national side since making his debut for Al Sadd more than 15 years ago. Affi, Hassan and Al Haydos are teammates at Al Sadd also.
Defender Pedro Miguel, midfielder Bassam Al Rawi and goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb will provide strength and experience when Qatar take on Ecuador (Nov 20), Senegal (Nov 25) and The Netherlands (Nov 29) in their Group A clashes.
In the last four years, Sanchez has kept his players extremely busy with the Qatar side featuring in Copa America and taking part in the CONCACAF Gold Cup where they played the semi-finals last year.
A series of friendlies in the last one year have kept the players in match practice ahead of what will be their debut at the game’s showpiece event.
Qatar’s young World Cup squad holds promise. Most of the current national team players have been under the mentorship of Sanchez – who guided Qatar to 2014 AFC Asian Cup U-20 glory in Myanmar where they beat North Korea in the final – for almost eight years. Since then, Sanchez has single handedly shaped the careers of star players of the AFC Asian Cup triumph in 2019.
THE SQUAD
Goalkeepers:
Saad Alsheeb, Meshaal Barsham, Yousef Hassan
Defenders:
Pedro Miguel, Musaab Khidir, Tarek Salman, Bassam Al-Rawi, Boualem Khoukhi, Abdelkarim Hassan, Homam Ahmed, Jassem Gaber
Midfielders:
Ali Asad, Assim Modibo, Mohammed Waad, Salem Al-Hajri, Moustafa Tarek, Karim Boudiaf, Abdelaziz Hatim, Ismail Mohamad
Forwards:
Naif Alhadhrami, Ahmed Alaaeldin, Hassan Al-Haydos, Khalid Muneer, Akram Afif, Almoez Ali, Mohamed Muntari
Coach:
Felix Sanchez
