The Peninsula
Doha: Reigning Asian champions Qatar will compete in the CONCACAF Gold Cup next year in the United States, the Qatar Football Association announced yesterday.
"Our national team will participate in the Concacaf #GoldCup for the second time in a row, at the upcoming edition that will be held in the United States between June 16 and July 16, 2023," the QFA said on their Twitter account.
Competing as an invitee at the biennial North American continental showpiece event, Al Annabi impressed the world at the 2021 edition of the tournament, storming into the semi-finals with an impressive record.
Qatar who defeated Grenada 4-0 and Honduras 2-0 after drawing 3-3 with Panama in the Group stage, entered the quarter-finals as Group D leaders. The Felix Sanchez-coached men then defeated El Salvador 3-2 before going down to eventual champions USA 0-1 in the semi-finals.
By that time, the Asian champions had scored a tournament-high 12 goals, giving away just six. Qatar's explosive striker Almoez Ali, with four goals in his account, won the Golden Boot for the top scorer of the 2021 tournament.
CONCACAF’s relationship with Qatar began in 2018, when it signed a cooperation agreement with the Asian Football Confederation.
The following year, Qatar won the Asian Cup for the first time, and CONCACAF invited Al Annabi to participate in the 2021 and 2023 Gold Cups.
The Gold Cup brings together national teams from North and Central America and the Caribbean and has traditionally been dominated by the United States and Mexico.
The 70,00-seat SoFi Stadium, which is home to the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams, will be the venue of the final of next year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, the regional football body announced yesterday, confirming United States' host status of the event for the second consecutive time. CONCACAF also confirmed that next year’s tournament will be preceded by a knockout preliminary competition with teams competing for three spots in the tournament itself.
The Gold Cup draw, which will determine the preliminary round one and two pairings and the group stage groups will take place on April 14, once all the participating nations have been confirmed.