Qatar Tribune
When the Qatar Football Association extended national team coach Felix Sanchez’s contract until the 2022 Qatar World Cup following his heroic performance in winning the Asian Cup for the first time in Qatar’s history in the United Arab Emirates in 2019, little did the Spaniard and bookmakers know that he was destined for greatness. He is set to guide to make their World Cup debut and hopes to make history by becoming the first coach to lead Qatar to win a match at the World Cup.
Sanchez, 46, has previously led the Youth team, Under-19 to Asian glory for the first time in 2014 in Myanmar, and he has a long-standing relationship with the majority of the current first squad.
Sanchez, who has been with the senior team since 2017, expressed pride in leading Qatar to a historic World Cup on home soil.
“I am proud to be a part of this as a coach, along with the players, all the staff, and everyone involved, and I am looking forward to representing Qatar in the best way possible,” he said.
The first Middle East World Cup is only 26 days away, and it will begin on November 20 at the 60,000-seat Al Bayt Stadium. The host country’s national team, dressed in maroon and white, will open the tournament against Ecuador.
Since winning the Asian Cup, the team has given people hope, and expectations are high that they can pull something off against the odds and qualify from their group with the Netherlands, Senegal, and Ecuador.
Sanchez’s men enter the tournament ranked 50th in the world, six places below their South American counterpart Ecuador, and with three wins in their last four competitive games against South American opposition.
Sanchez has a respectable 53% win rate in charge of the senior national team, with 43 victories in 81 games including Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Guatemala in Malaga, Spain.
Speaking about their preparations ahead of their debut against Ecuador, with friendly games against Honduras and Panama.
“The friendly games were put to the test for us,” he explained, “and not every game allows you to perform at the level you desired.”
When assessing Qatar’s chances of making it out of the group stage of a World Cup for the first time, the Spaniard sounded both cautious and confident, “We will try to improve the things we analyse that aren’t working as well as we would like or that we believe can be improved as we have time before November 20. We are confident that we will perform at our best level during the World Cup.
“We will continue to work in the final phase, and it will be our final touch before the World Cup.”
Sanchez has some talented players on whom the country can rely for some magic in the make-or-break group games. The Maroons frequently play 3-5-2 and rely on talented defensive players Pedro Miguel and Abdelkarim Hassam, as well as captain and legend Hassan Al Haydos, to pack the midfield and quickly win the ball back.
Going forward, Qatar is awesome to watch. Akram Afif, is the star player, having scored 26 goals in 86 appearances for his country. Afif has represented Villarreal and Sporting Gijon at the highest level of European football.
Sanchez is Qatar’s longest-serving coach, having been in charge for five years.