Alkass Digital
Qatar will be looking for back-to-back wins on European soil but with a cautious approach when they take on Azerbaijan in their second European Zone FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifier today.
Qatar coach Felix Sanchez yesterday urged his players to show more speed against the Europeans. The reigning Asian champions won their opening match against Luxembourg 1-0 on Wednesday at the Nagyerdei Stadium in Debrecen, Hungary, where Qatar play their 'home' matches during the first stage of the European qualifiers.
Azerbaijan are ranked 108th on the FIFA computer while Qatar are placed at the 58th spot, but Sanchez yesterday warned his players to be ready for a tough battle against a strong opponent. On Wednesday, Azerbaijan went down fighting to European champions Portugal at the cost of an own goal.
“Azerbaijan are a physical team and they play with a high pace. They are a hard-working and talented side too," Sanchez said during a virtual press conference yesterday. "We need to be at our best to be able to compete against them,” the Spaniard added. Sanchez was happy about Qatar's win in the opening match against Luxembourg, but pointed put that there is plenty of room to improve. "Against Luxembourg we started strongly but at many moments struggled to match the pace of the opponents.
Generally teams in Europe play with good pace and high quality and we have to adapt to that. It’s a new thing for us, which we don’t see in the Qatar Stars League. But we need to adapt and gain experience. If we want to compete at this level, we’ve to do it fast. Otherwise it’s going to be difficult,” Sanchez said. Sanchez also hinted that he will try to rotate the players for the next two games.
“We will wait till final training session before finalising the team. All players are available for the game. There will be some changes in the playing eleven,” he said. Meanwhile, Al Sadd star Saad Al Dossari who made his return to the squad following an injury lay-off, yesterday said that he is happy that coach Sanchez trusted him by recalling him for the role of goalkeeper.
"We have a large number of goalkeeper options. All of them have presented a remarkable level of talent, and many of them deserved to be in the national team. I think that those currently present have a very good level, there is an honourable fraternal competition between the goalkeepers now," Al Dossari said.
Qatar, the hosts of the FIFA spectacle next year, have already booked their place in the World Cup, but were invited by UEFA as a guest nation to take part in the European qualifiers. Qatar will try to use the opportunity of playing against top European nations as they fine tune their preparations for the World Cup.
Their matches against Group A rival will not count towards qualifying and will be labelled as friendlies.
After the Azerbaijan encounter, Qatar take on finish their European sojourn against the Republic of Ireland on March 30. Qatar will return in September to take on European champions Portugal and Serbia – the two other teams in Group A.