Mitch Freeley

You can watch Qatar in Europe via beIN CONNECT 

Qatar makes another step on their road to the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Wednesday evening in Debrecen. The 2019 Asian Cup winners are continuing to ramp up their unique preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup as they take part in European qualifiers starting with a trio of games against Luxembourg, Azerbaijan and the Republic of Ireland at the Nagyerdei Stadion.

Al Annabi’s results won’t actually go towards the final group, but it does give the side an opportunity to hone their skills against seasoned European teams. Whilst players have been eager to show off on social media images of them fully wrapped up braving the 7-degree temperatures whilst Doha is a much more manageable 34 degrees, there has been a feeling behind the scenes that this trip to Europe will be a true test of the sides abilities post the Asian Cup under Felix Sanchez.

Prior to the 5-0 win against Bangladesh at the end of 2020, Qatar had lost three and drawn one including a 5-1 friendly defeat at the hands of Ghana. It will be important for Al Annabi to get some wins under their belt, not only for the manager but for the squad who are just 21 months away from kicking off the first World Cup in the Arab region.

Felix Sanchez has a number of issues to address on their trip to Hungary, the first of which will be the goalkeeping situation. Young keeper Meshaal Barsham has started the last three games for Al Annabi and the Al Sadd player is fast becoming a viable option in goal ahead of team-mate Saad Al Sheeb.

With this the only time for Sanchez to look at potential keepers in a competitive scenario he may elect to hand a cap to Salah Zakaria the 21-year old has impressed this season, so much so that Al Duhail elected to sign the keeper at an expense in January.

“Everyone is competing to be the number one goalkeeper at the World Cup.” Admitted Barsham who spoke with beIN SPORTS a few days before Qatar made the trip to Hungary. “Everyone has the chance to do it and for sure the coach will give a chance to everyone. Whoever deserves it and whoever will be chosen will be number one.”

Barsham may well be in the box seat for the number one shirt in 2022, and it will certainly be interesting to see who Sanchez selects in what he deems to be as serious qualifiers for his team.

Whilst next on the priority list for Sanchez is the need to freshen up his side in attack. It can be a fair assumption to say that Akram Afif & Almoez Ali have not shown similar quality since the pair fired Qatar to Asian Cup glory in 2019.

Injury and suspension have meant that Afif has only managed five goals in the QSL. Whilst Almoez Ali has scored six in the last campaign a season in which he has moved to the right-wing ahead of a more central role he had been previously given at club Al Duhail.

With Afif unavailable for selection, opportunity knocks Yusuf Abdurisag. The 21-year old winger has impressed from the bench this season as Al Sadd has swept to a domestic treble. Even scoring a deft chip against Umm Salal to guarantee the league for Xavi’s side with four games to spare.

Abdurisag is no stranger to the national team having represented Qatar at the u-20 World Cup in Poland and was a graduate from the Aspire Academy. Now he is primed to get some game-time against European opposition.

“Obliviously, it’s a big challenge for us we are trying to get the most experience even though we are in a pandemic. It will be a challenging moment but the most important thing for us is the experience at this stage” explains Abdurisag.

The winger forms a group of eight players in the squad who were not part of the success in UAE and are now tasked with breaking through just in time before 2022. With just six starts five of which coming from the bench Abdurisag will be targeting a start in at least one of the games, although he is well aware of the challenge of pushing for a first-team place.

“It will be a good challenge for me as a young player to gain experience and play strong games against European teams. I just don’t have to be too nervous right now, it will be a great experience for us, as I said this will be a challenge for this team to see where we are at, at the moment.”

Whilst boosting the squad with younger talent will be a priority for Sanchez as he forms a World Cup squad, the Spanish coach will be keeping a close eye on the core of players that delivered Asian Cup glory. Pedro Miguel has seen everything with this current generation of Qatari players, from flying sandals in Abu Dhabi to facing off against Lionel Messi at the 2019 Copa America.

“We are excited to play these games against strong national teams. We also have to think about the Gold Cup and how we can prepare for that well. In a year and a half we will be at the World Cup and we need to be in good shape.” Adds the Al Sadd defender who has a busy year ahead which includes the Gold Cup in the summer and the Arab Cup in December.

Part of the success of this Qatar side has been the bond between the squad and Sanchez who has trained the vast majority of the team from a young age at the Aspire Zone. Now as Qatar enter the final stretch of preparations players who have initially thrived under Sanchez in 2019 must be forged with promising youngsters to form the 2022 World Cup squad.

Some have questioned the hunger and drive of the players who lifted the Asian Cup insisting that this was the peak of their career. For Miguel, the commitment remains, and he personally has an ambitious target from the next three games.

“We are ready to win the three games because it’s our target to go there to win. If we going with the mentality to loose better we don’t play. So we go to Europe to play well and give good performances.”

This group of players have so often given their most impressive performances in the most unlikely of circumstances. From an eyebrow-raising 1-0 victory over Switzerland in November 2018 to headline-grabbing wins over the UAE and Japan on route to lifting the Asian Cup. Now as they move closer to 2022, Al Annabi needs to throw up a few more upsets in Europe as they prepare for a home World Cup.

You can watch Qatar in Europe via beIN CONNECT.