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29 July 2021
Qatar continue their world tour ahead of the World Cup 2022 through the Gold Cup
Between their participation to the Copa America in 2019, their current presence at the Gold Cup 2021, without forgetting their inclusion to the World Cup 2022 European qualifiers, Qatar are travelling around the globe to prepare the World Cup in the best way possible. Let’s take a look on the accelerated learning process of the current champions of Asia.
With 16 months to go ahead of the kick-off of the next World Cup (November-December 2022) held on their soil, Qatar are focused on their preparation for this historical event. After taking part in the Copa America 2019 (they’ve faced a group stage exit), the Asian champions are currently playing the Gold Cup.
A competition well managed so far by Al-Annabi (Editor’s note : translate this by “The Maroon”, the national team’s nickname) as the team led by the Spanish coach Felix Sanchez Bas finished atop of their group (draw against Panama, wins against both Grenada and Honduras) before earning a 3-2 win over El Salvador in the quarter-finals. During the night of Thursday to Friday (1:30 am French time zone), Akram Afif and his teammates will face one of the CONCACAF zone’s giants : United States.
100% of the Qatar national team members play in the league
A huge challenge in line with the Qatar Football Association’s policy which is to provide an accelerated learning to their players through these participations to the international competitions. “By playing both Copa America and Gold Cup, players have expanded their horizons and experiences. 100% of the Qatar national team members play in the local league and, except few of them, all these players have only known the Qatari league during their career. The QFA’s strategy allows them to see other things”, analyzes Sami also known as @QatarFoot_Fr on Twitter.
GOAL SCORING MACHINES! ⚽
— Gold Cup (@GoldCup) July 28, 2021
Here are the 12 goals scored by 🇶🇦 @QFA_EN in the #GoldCup21 🏆
Think they will continue this scoring run against the #USMNT? #ThisIsOurs pic.twitter.com/MOtte0wQHi
The Qatari football expert (that you can read also on ‘Derniers Défenseurs’) continues : “The final goal of the Qatar national team is the project ‘Qatar 2022’. The aim during the World Cup will be to reach at least the knockout stage and that’s why you can’t have players without any high-level experience”, he explains.
It should also be noted that before the Gold Cup, Qatar have been invited to take part in the World Cup 2022 European qualifiers as a guest nation. They have been included in the group of Portugal, Ireland, Serbia, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan. These games, registered as friendlies, will help Asian champions to continue their intensive preparation in view of the World Cup 2022. On March, Qatar began their European tour by beating both Luxembourg (1-0) and Azerbaijan (2-1) before being held to a 1-1 draw by Ireland (1-1).
By joining Group A of the European Qualifiers, Qatar 🇶🇦 will benefit from 10 friendly games in the run-up to 2022…starting this month with matches against Luxembourg, Azerbaijan and Rep. of Ireland – all to be played in Debrecen, Hungary#QatarInEurope pic.twitter.com/2fMoKHSfQZ
— Qatar Football Association (@QFA_EN) March 20, 2021
The Qatar’s desire to put all odds on their side is also illustrated by the adjustment made to their local schedule. “During the 2021-2022 campaign, the Qatari league will end on April and will restart only in 2023”, says Sami. That way, Al-Annabi will have the opportunity to prepare themselves intensively for the worldwide event during several months.
Half of the national team is aged 24 or less
This detailed work is part of the Qatar Football Association global policy of rejuvenating and developing the national team over the last years. It’s interesting to see that the Qatar squad currently playing the Gold Cup is composed of eleven players aged 24 or less. That’s to say, the half of the squad !
That’s not surprising as well to see that the same number of players took part in the Maurice Revello Tournament few years ago : the QFA leaders are working for many years on the construction of this group called upon to represent the nation at the World Cup 2022. And the formation of this group started from the youth competitions. “There is a real continuity through these participations at the Maurice Revello Tournament, the other international events and these young players who came through the Aspire Academy. They have developed gradually from the U17s and the current head coach Felix Sanchez Bas follows this group of players since the beginning”, explains the Qatari football expert Sami.
"Disputer le @TournoiMRevello va nous aider pour notre futur"
— Tournoi Maurice Revello (@TournoiMRevello) June 2, 2019
Meshaal Barsham, gardien et capitaine du Qatar 🇶🇦, livre son ressenti après la défaite de @qfa contre la France cc @QFA_EN #FRAQAT pic.twitter.com/dQLzyoC2rC
Felix Sanchez Bas is the architect of this project. Head coach of the Qatar national team that took part in the Maurice Revello Tournament 2014, the former FC Barcelona youth coach led then this group to the Asian Cup U19 few weeks later. Meanwhile, he continued to monitor closely the other youth categories before being appointed as the Qatar senior national team head coach on 2017.
« Qatar want to show a beautiful style of play at the World Cup 2022 »
This has proved successful as The Maroon won the Asian Cup 2019 in a fashion style in 2019, the Qatar’s first ever title on the international stage. “The style of play showed at the Asian Cup is typical from Felix Sanchez Bas : the goalkeeper never makes a clearance and always tries to reach his fullbacks. You have seen as well one-two combinations and passes with a high tempo. It’s a risky style of play but a beautiful one and this is what Qatar want to show at the World Cup 2022”, details Sami.
Before showing to the world the fruits of their labour, Qataris have to deal with a very short-term challenge, that’s to say the Gold Cup 2021 semi-final against United States on the night of Thursday to Friday (1:30 am French time zone). “In my opinion, the Gold Cup really starts now for them. The four favorites of the tournament, United States, Canada, Mexico and Qatar all reached the semi-finals. It’s time to prove that they are able to create the surprise at the World Cup 2022”, told Qatari football expert Sami.
Ahead of the competition, the head coach Felix Sanchez Bas made no secret of his motivation. “The Gold Cup is very important for us. Playing official competitions in a different environment to Asia presents us with a much-needed test to see how well we can compete against different teams in the World Cup”, said the Spaniard.
The Gold Cup semi-final against United States sounds like a real test for Al-Annabi…
Amayes Brahmi
Crédits photo : QFA
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