The first appearance of the Qatar national team at the 2022 World Cup, which they will host at home from next Sunday, is a heavy burden, in light of the requests to appear convincing and cross the threshold of the first leg to avoid the experience of South Africa 2010, l is the only host team that has not made it past the first round in the history of the World Cup.
The task seems difficult for the Spanish coach Felix Sanchez and his juniors to guarantee the transition from a strong group with the presence of teams and staff such as the Dutch national team, which has a long tradition in the World Cup, together with the African champion Senegalese, the whose ranks are full of stars active in the European leagues, in addition to the Ecuadorian national team.
Al-Annabi’s chances will not be jeopardized in the opening match against the Ecuadorian national team on Sunday at Al-Khor’s Al-Bayt Stadium, as the result will be the key to finding a gap in the transit accounts, at the same time where it seems that squandering points is a matter of logical failure of hopes.
The confidence in the possibility of overtaking Ecuador was born from a previous experience in which the companions of captain Hassan Al-Haydos prevailed 4-3 over the same opponent in a friendly, without forgetting the time difference and the variables involved.
It is true that the Qatar Football Association and national team management have provided a program that seems imaginary for an Arab-Asian team, compared to the players’ experiences, whether participating in the Copa America or the Gold Cup, then the European qualifiers in a legal capacity not counting the results, but the experience that the players have accumulated has not helped them correct many mistakes: they did it against Canada, for example, last September.
Perhaps the period of isolation in which “Al-Annabi” entered Europe, away from prying eyes for a period of four months, without participating in official competitions and without participating in the local league, has spread some concern among Qatari observers and followers national team, in line with the levels presented by the team.
Sanchez allayed those concerns about reaching the required readiness on time, during recent training.
And to instill confidence in the players, the coach has chosen to play unofficial friendlies with teams far below the level of his competitors at the World Cup, and has achieved 5 moral victories over teams that seemed obscure, such as Nicaragua, Panama, Guatemala, Albania and Honduras.
The bet will inevitably be on players eager to participate in the World Cup, in order to be able to challenge each other first, names like Al-Moez Ali (currently the national team’s top scorer) and his colleague who understands this in Al Volo, as Akram Afif told AFP, they have proven to be able to provide a great level of surprise. The world has also surprised the same Asian duo before and led Annabi to the continental title in 2019.
Experienced stars will play a leading role in the battalion, which will be led by defender Khokhi Boualem, captain Hassan Al-Haidous and goalkeeper Saad Al-Sheeb. But there is another bet on Sanchez himself, son of the La Masia Academy, who, like his players, has accumulated great experience in facing elite teams during friendly trials in which he led the national team in a path of preparation for almost five years since he took over in August 2017.
And if the Qatari side’s results in its previous experiences within its long outstanding program were satisfactory in the Copa America, encouraging in the Gold Cup and modest in the European qualifiers, encouraging in the Arab Cup and morally supportive in the recent informal test, then it has inevitably accumulated great experiences for the players that could help them reach the ambition ceiling required to qualify for the second round, which could make the Qatar experience a model.
