Félix Sánchez, the Spanish coach of Qatar, host country of the 2022 World Cup (November 20-December 18), unveiled this Friday a list of 26 players without surprises, led by attackers Akram Afif, Almoez Ali and veteran Hassan Al Haydos.
Qatar, which will debut in a World Cup final phase in the senior category, will play the opening match of the tournament, against Ecuador on November 20, before facing Senegal on the 25th and the Netherlands on the 29th.
Since June, Félix Sánchez’s men left the Qatari league, where everyone plays, to prepare almost behind closed doors at concentrations in Austria and Spain.
Something similar had been done by South Korea when it hosted the 2002 World Cup. The strategy then paid off. and reached the semi-finals, although Qatar would already consider reaching the round of 16 a success.
“In 2019 it was hard to imagine that Qatar could win the Asian Cup,” as it happened, he recently recalled in an interview with the newspaper Marca Félix Sánchez. “Obviously, I’m not talking about winning the World Cup, but about playing at a good level against these three opponents, that’s our challenge. Afterwards, this is football, and anything can happen”, he pointed out.
After unconvincing friendly matches in September (two losses and one draw), Qatar has regained confidence winning four friendlies in recent weeks, against Guatemala (2-0), Honduras (1-0), Panama (2-1) and Albania (1-0).
To reveal your list on social networks, Qatar chose a symbolic moment: on 11-11-2022 at 8:22 p.m. local time.
– List of 26 players summoned by Qatar for the 2022 World Cup:
Archers: Saad Al-Sheeb (Al-Sadd SC/QAT), Meshaal Barsham (Al-Sadd SC/QAT), Yousef Hassan (Al-Gharafa SC/QAT).
Defenses: Pedro Miguel (Al-Sadd SC/QAT), Musab Khoder (Al-Sadd SC/QAT), Tarek Salman (Al-Sadd SC/QAT), Bassam Al-Rawi (Al-Duhail SC/QAT), Boualem Khoukhi (Al -Sadd SC/QAT), Abdelkarim Hassan (Al-Sadd SC/QAT), Ismaeel Mohammad (Al-Duhail SC/QAT), Homam Ahmed (Al-Gharafa SC/QAT).
Midfielders: Jassem Gaber (Al-Arabi SC/QAT), Ali Asad (Al-Sadd SC/QAT), Assim Madibo (Al-Duhail SC/QAT), Mohammed Waad (Al-Sadd SC/QAT), Salem Al-Hajri (Al -Sadd SC/QAT), Mostafa Tarek Mashaal (Al-Sadd SC/QAT), Karim Boudiaf (Al-Duhail SC/QAT), Abdulaziz Hatem (Al-Rayyan SC/QAT).
Attackers: Naif Al-Hadhrami (Al-Rayyan SC/QAT), Ahmed Alaaeldin (Al-Gharafa SC/QAT), Hassan Al-Haydos (Al-Sadd SC/QAT), Akram Afif (Al-Sadd SC/QAT), Almoez Ali (Al-Duhail SC/QAT), Mohammed Muntari (Al-Duhail SC/QAT), Khalid Muneer Mazeed (Al-Wakrah SC/QAT).
