AFP
Qatar coach Felix
Sanchez has vowed
to “isolate” his players from politics at the
Asian Cup, which is taking place
in the United Arab Emirates during a diplomatic crisis.
The tournament represents
the first visit by the Qatari national side to the UAE since the
beginning of the Gulf crisis.
Since June 2017, the UAE,
along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain
and Egypt, have imposed an illegal blockade on Qatar.
With the dispute now into its
nineteenth month, the Asian Cup
is the most high-profile sporting
competition so far between the
former allies.
And nothing is likely to be
more highly-charged than the
meeting between Saudi and Qatar in a Group E match in Abu
Dhabi on January 17.
As if the on-pitch weight of
expectation surrounding Qatar’s
young team ahead of hosting the
2022 World Cup was not enough,
now they have to navigate a delicate off -field situation.
Sanchez though has vowed to
concentrate solely on football.
“This [political situation] is
something we’ve discussed with
the players,” he told AFP.
“They are very conscious and
I am convinced that during the
competition they will be able to
maintain their focus on the sport
and to isolate ourselves from the
rest of it all.”
The team arrived in UAE on
Saturday, having to fl y via Kuwait
in the first sign this is no ordinary
trip — a ban on direct flights has
been imposed against Doha by
the UAE, Saudi and Bahrain.
Qatari domestic sides who
have played in the UAE or Saudi
in the AFC Champions League
have previously spoken of delays
at airport immigration and comments about Qatar, or encountered rival captains refusing to
shake hands before the match.
However, goalkeeper Saad alSheeb said the players would remain unaffected.
“In the end this is football,” he
said. “We just control ourselves
and play football.” On the pitch, Qatar have shown
a distinct improvement since
Spaniard Sanchez took charge in
2017.
He has placed emphasis on
young, largely Qatari-born players — rather than imported stars
— who have progressed through
the Aspire Academy, a state of-the-art Doha training centre
which seeks to hothouse local
talent.
These include forward Akram
Afif, the first Qatari to play in
Spain’s La Liga, and defender
Abdulkarim Hassan, just voted
the AFC 2018 player of the year.
In November, Qatar achieved
its most notable international
victory, beating Switzerland 1-0
in Lugano.
The average age of Qatar’s
starting line-up in Switzerland
was 24 years and 195 days, and 13
of the 25 players who travelled to
Europe were Aspire graduates.
Sanchez has worked with the
Qatari players at every level from
the academy through the Under-19s, Under-20s, Under-23s and
now the full team.
It is the beginning of a massive
year for Sanchez and Qatar, who
will also play in the Copa America later in 2019.
In an Asian Cup group also
consisting of Lebanon and North
Korea, a resurgent ‘al-Annabi’
(the Maroons) will be confident
of reaching the knockouts.
It is the tenth time they have
qualified for the Asian Cup but
have never progressed further
than the quarter-finals.
This time though they have a
lot to prove.
“I certainly nominate Qatar to
be the dark horse of the tournament,” said Hassan.