Alkass Digital
Doha: Coach Carlos Queiroz yesterday announced Qatar's preliminary squad for the 2023 Gold Cup, which will be held in the United States of America and Canada from June 24 to July 16.
The 41-member list includes many new players as well as experienced stars, who played under previous coach Felix Sanchez.
Qatar will open their Gold Cup campaign against Haiti at the NRG Stadium in Houston on June 24. The Asian Champions then take on Honduras on June 29 in Glendale, Arizona before wrapping up their Group B matches against heavyweights Mexico on July 2 in Santa Clara, California.
Qatar will have two stages of preparation for the Gold Cup, the Qatar Football Association announced yesterday. The Al Annabi players started the first stage of training yesterday in Doha, excluding Al Sadd and Al Arabi players, who will join the camp on May 14 after the Amir Cup final.
The final squad will be announced by Queiroz on May 16, who will then depart to Vienna, Austria for the second stage of the camp from May 29 to June 19.
In Vienna, Qatar will play a friendly match against a Croatian side made up of local players on June 8, versus Jamaica on June 15 and against New Zealand four days later. Qatar players will leave for the USA on June 20.
Qatar are featuring at the Gold Cup as a guest side for the second time. The Maroons had taken part in the tournament in 2021, where they had lost to eventual champions the United States in the semi-finals.
Queiroz had expressed his hope of improving the levels of the side that had a disastrous World Cup at home last year under Sanchez losing all three games.
Qatar preliminary squad
Goalkeepers: Jassim Al Hail (Al Arabi), Saad Al Sheeb, Meshaal Barsham (Al Sadd), Shehab Al Laithi, Salah Zakaria (Al Duhail), Youssef Hassan (Al Gharafa).
Defenders: Ibrahim Al Sadiq, Hazem Ahmed (Al Wakrah), Ahmed Suhail (Al Arabi), Bassam Al Rawi, Boualem Khoukhi, Pedro Miguel, Tariq Salman, Musab Khader (Al Sadd), Diab Haroun, Mohamed Al Nuaimi, Youssef Ayman (Al Duhail), Saif Al Din Hassan, Hammam Al Amin (Al Gharafa), Abdullah Al Ali, Mohamed Ayyash (Al Rayyan)
Midfielders: Ahmed Fathi, Jassim Jaber, Abdullah Al Maarafi (Al Arabi), Asim Madibo, Karim Boudiaf (Al Duhail), Abdulaziz Hatem (Al Rayyan), Ali Asad, Mohamed Waad (Al Sadd), Nabil Irfan (Al Wakrah), Mustafa Meshaal (Al Shamal).
Forwards: Ahmed Alaa (Al Gharafa), Ismail Mohamd, Almoez Ali, Mohamed Muntari (Al Duhail), Akram Afif, Hassan Al Haydos (Al Sadd), Elias Hamid (Umm Salal), Tamim Mansour (Al Rayyan), Khaled Mounir, Youssef Abdelrazzaq (Al Wakrah).