The whole of Middle East particularly football fans arose with joy to celebrate Qatar’s success in winning the hosting rights of the 22nd edition of the World’s most coveted international football competition, the FIFA World Cup. The fact that it is the first time an Arab country is hosting and is not the only reason for Qatar’s joy. However, the hosting rights gives them a huge sigh of relief due to their inability to ever participate in the competition after several attempts at the qualifying stages.
Affectionately called the Maroons, the senior male soccer team of Qatar has been denied a spot on several occasions as their counterparts have always proved to be tougher despite their form. South Korea and United Arab Emirates ended their arguably highest ever hopes of making it to the World Cup after the Qataris had begun a magnificent World cup qualifying campaign torwards the 1990 World Cup.
Despite their inability to ever book a place at the World Cup until finally winning the hosting rights for this year, Qatar has risen through the ranks to make a name in football among Asian countries. They are now three time champions of the Arabian Gulf Cup; joint second with Saudi Arabia in terms of most trophies and just behind Kuwait who has 10 trophies.
Having struggled in the Asian Cup in nine appearances, Coach Felix Sanchez Bas, a former coach of the Barcelona Youth team led the Maroons to what is arguably their biggest achievement in 2019, when Japan was on the receiving end of a 3-1 victory to Qatar in the Final of the 17th edition of the Asian Cup in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. What makes the Asian Cup glory a special one was the fact that the said edition was the first time the tournament was contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format. It was probably joyous from a Qatari perspective because Qatar would certainly be referred to as the Asian champions throughout their first World Cup appearance.
The Qatari team could leverage on the cohesion and telepathy developed by virtue of the core of the team’s ability to play together for a long time. After the Asian Cup triumph in 2019, eight of their players were named in the team of the the tournament. Interestingly, all eight players were still part of Félix Sánchez’s latest squad. Five of those players now play together for Qatar’s arguably most successful team, Al Sadd; captain Hassan Al-Haydos, Abdelkarim Hassan, Akram Afif, Boualem Khoukhi, and goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb. The other players who made the 2019 team of the year include Al Duhail duo Almoez Ali and Bassam Al-Rawi and Al Rayann midfielder Abdulaziz Hatem.
In their first ever match in the FIFA World Cup, Qatar will lock horns with Ecuador before trading tackles with African champions Senegal and finally wrap it up in the group stage with a clash against the Netherlands.
Appearances: 1st appearance
Head Coach: Felix Sanchez Bas
Most capped player: Hassan Al-Haydos (165 appearances)
Captain: Hassan Al-Haydos
Top scorer: Mansoor Muftah (42 goals in 81 appearances)
Player to watch: Almoez Ali
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Frank Appiah
