DPA International
Qatar coach Felix Sanchez
leads his side into the Asian
Cup against Lebanon tomorrow with their politically charged appearance in the United Arab
Emirates, another test en route to 2022.
In three years and 10 months the
World Cup will begin in Qatar. Only
South Africa, in 2010, have been eliminated as World Cup hosts before the
knock-out stage and Qatar intend to
avoid that fate.
“It’s a very important year for us as
we are competing in the Asian Cup as
well as the Copa America,” Hassan
al-Haydos said.
“Then we have the World Cup coming up in four years. These tournaments are part of our preparations for
the FIFA World Cup.”
Qatar have been only a modest regional power with quarter-final appearances in 2000 and 2011 their best
showings at the Asian Cup.
They were eliminated with three
losses out of three four years ago in
Australia.
But under boss Felix Sanchez, in
charge since July 2017, things have improved considerably. A win over Switzerland and draw with Iceland, albeit
in friendlies, were noteworthy results
achieved as the money pumped into
Doha’s Aspire academy finally seems
to be paying dividend.
Crucially Sanchez has plenty of
experience with the players, having
worked at Aspire for seven years from
2006 before coaching the under-19,
U20 and U23s before taking the senior
post.
Striker Akram Afif — scorer of the
winner against the Swiss — joined
Spanish side Villarreal, although he
is currently back on loan at Al Sadd,
while defender Abdulkarim Hassan
was Asian player of the year in 2018.
“Every team goes into any competition eyeing the title,” said Sanchez.
“The Qatari team’s goal is no different.
“I know Qatari fans have big hopes
from the current batch of players and I
hope we can deliver.
Having said that we are in a tough
group, and all the teams deserve the
respect.”
Favourites in Group E will be Saudi
Arabia, looking to bounce back from
a poor World Cup, while North Korea
will also feel capable of reaching the
knock-outs.
The meeting with Saudi Arabia, on
January 17 in Abu Dhabi, will be eagerly anticipated around the world
with onlookers anxious to see how the
teams react given the political situation between the countries.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino,
who attended the tournament opening game on Saturday, backs a sudden
expansion of the 2022 World Cup from
32 to 48 teams — an idea viable only by
using Qatar’s neighbours as co-hosts.
“There are tensions in this particular region and it’s up to their respective
leaders to deal with that but maybe
it’s easier to talk about a joint football project than more complicated
things,” Infantino said at a recent conference in Dubai.
“If it can help all the people in the
Gulf and all the countries in the world
develop football and bring a positive
message to the world about football,
then you should give it a try.”
Whether Infantino gets his expansion wish early — the increase will definitely happen at the 2026 edition — or
not is of little real concern to them.
“If we see that it’s in the benefit of
football, the World Cup itself, and we
feel like it’s going to add, we would be
all for it,”
Nasser al-Khater, assistant secretary-general of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, said last
year.
“If we feel that it’s not in favour of us
or of football, we won’t go for it.”
In 2022 the football world will turn
to Qatar whatever happens.
And their team may even be competitive to boot.