Qatar's Almoez Ali (right) with a team-mate during a pre-match training session at the Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen, yesterday.
Debrecen: Asian champions Qatar will be eyeing points against Serbia when the two sides meet today at the Nagyerdei Stadion in the Hungarian city of Debrecen in a European qualifier for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The Felix Sanchez-coached Asian champions will play their first match since their impressive run in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, in which they were eliminated in the semi-final against the US earlier this month.
"The match is of great importance especially as we are facing a strong team that has its reputation and leads the group, equal with Portugal with (7) points, and it has players who are able to change the result at any time," Sanchez said during a pre-match press conference yesterday.
"Despite the difficulty of the match tomorrow, due to the strength of the star-studded Serbian national team, we are able to match the opponent as preparations for this match were made by setting up a short camp in Austria.
We are confident of our players who will do their best tomorrow, plus these strong confrontations will have a positive impact on our players as a result of contact with strong European teams," Sanchez said.
"The pressure of the matches definitely will affect the players, and it is necessary to deal with it regardless the huge number of matches," the Spaniard said.
Serbia, coached by Dragan Stojkovic, are ranked 29 on the FIFA computer. Serbia have drawn with Portugal (2-2) and Jamaica (1-1) in their last four internationals. Serbia beat Azerbaijan (2-1) in the other two matches before losing to former Asian champions Japan (0-1).
Qatar, on the other hand, have maintained an impressive run this year. At their Gold Cup debut, Qatar drew with Panama (3-3) before crushing Honduras (2-0) and edging El Salvador 3-2. Following an entertaining clash, Qatar lost to the US (1-0) in the semi-finals.
Sanchez’s boys will next play Portugal on September 4 at the same venue. Hosts of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar, appear in the qualifiers to gain experience ahead of the football blockbuster next year.
Although the results of the Qatari team in the European qualifiers are not counted, especially as it is the host of the 2022 World Cup, Al Annabi will be looking to continue the good results achieved in the first stage.
Earlier in the year in Group A, Qatar beat Luxembourg (1-0) and Azerbaijan (2-1) before playing a 1-1 draw against the Republic of Ireland.
Since their return from the US, the Qatari squad assembled in Doha for a short period before heading to Austria, where the Asian champions have been conducting a full scale of training sessions under the watchful gaze of coach Sanchez.
The 20,000-capacity venue saw the maroons amass a tally of seven points out of a possible nine in the opening three rounds of Group A of the European section of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification against Luxembourg, Azerbaijan and the Republic of Ireland.
On Monday, the Qatar Football Association announced influential striker Mohammed Muntari will miss out on the qualifiers because of an injury.
Qatar will take on Luxembourg on September 7 in what would be the last of three internationals within a week’s time.
This week, the Qatar squad is expected to be in the limelight of fans after QFA launched a nationwide marketing campaign in Hungary ahead of the Serbia clash.
Qatar squad: Saad Al-Sheeb, Meshaal Barsham, Mahmoud Abu Nada, Youssif Hassan, Salah Zakaria, Pedro Miguil, Abdul Karim Hassan, Tariq Salman, Ahmed Suhail, Musaab Khidir, Bassam Al-Rawi, Homam Al-Amin, Khouki Boualem, Mohamed Waad, Assim Madabo. Karim Boudiaf, Ismail Mohamed, Abdullah Al-Ahraq, Abdullah Marafiya, Abdulaziz Hatim, Jassem Jaber, Akram Afif, Hassan Al-Haydos, Khaled Mohamed, Sultan Al-Braik, Ali Asad, Ahmed Moein, Yusuf Abdurisag, Al-Moez Ali and Ahmed Alaa.
Coach: Felix Sanchez
