The Qatar national team is competing in the 2022 World Cup as the host country, but over the past years it has prepared a strong team in search of a historic achievement.
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Qatar received Arab support, as all members of the League of Arab States welcomed hosting the most important sporting event in the world (AFP)
About 13 years ago, the biggest optimists in the Arab world could not have imagined that one of the largest sporting events in the world, namely the World Cup, would be held in an Arab country.
When Qatar submitted the bid to host the World Cup in 2022, and won the right to host in 2010, objections and doubts poured in about the ability of a small country, with a population of less than two million, to host a tournament of this size.
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At the beginning, and before announcing Qatar’s winning of the hosting file, FIFA President at the time, Sepp Blatter, supported the nomination file, and said that “the Arab world deserves to host the World Cup. It has 22 countries, and none of them had the opportunity to organize Championship”.
In his speech, Blatter cited the Qatari development at that time, stressing that “when I was in Qatar for the first time, there were 400,000 people here, and now there are 1.6 million, in addition to that when you are able to organize the Asian Games across more than 30 An event for men and women, it is not in question whether they will succeed in hosting the World Cup.
Qatar received Arab support, as all members of the League of Arab States welcomed hosting the most prominent sporting event in the world, stressing that it is an important opportunity to bridge the gap between the Arab world and the West.
Qatar and the first participation in the World Cup
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In the year that Qatar was announced as winning the 2022 World Cup, the first team was ranked 113th in the world (Web)
Qatar did not participate in any of the 21 editions of the World Cup. Therefore, in the 22nd edition, it seeks to take advantage of the ground and public factors to provide strong levels, and to compete in the first group, which includes the Netherlands, Senegal and Ecuador.
With the announcement of Qatar winning the bid to host the 2022 World Cup, the Qatar Football Association began preparing the national team at a high level, in order to compete and reach advanced positions, or at least skip the group stage and qualify for the second round in the World Cup.
In the year when it was announced that Qatar won the 2022 World Cup file, the first team was ranked 113th in the world. If we look at the current ranking, which was issued by FIFA last September, we will find it in the 50th place, noting that it reached the 42nd place last August.
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Here, the hard work and great progress made by the national team at all levels is evident. In 2019, it succeeded in achieving the Asian Cup title for the first time in its history, after defeating the Japanese “Samurai” 3-1, which is the biggest achievement in the history of Qatari football. .
One of the main reasons for these achievements in Qatari football is due to the Aspire Academy, a sports academy established in 2004, with the aim of scouting Qatari athletes, helping to develop them at an early age, and developing their skills, by providing them with training and sports lessons. Aspire’s success in sports was not limited to football only, but also succeeded, in recent years, in supplying Qatari teams and sports with players who changed the map of Qatari sports, on the continent and the world. Here, we must mention one of the most prominent graduates of “ASPIRE”, Mutaz Barshim, world and Olympic champion in the high jump.
Aspire emerged quickly, and its graduates succeeded in leading the Qatar national team to win the Asian Junior Championship in 2014. After that, 15 of them participated in the squad that won the Asian Nations title in 2019, and there are 19 players in the expected squad for the 2022 World Cup Qatar.
Al-Annabi preparations and external frictions
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The Qatari national team reached the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Championship (Web)
Among the most important preparations for the World Cup, the Qatar Football Association received an opportunity to participate in the “Copa America” and the “CONCACAF Cup”. It was an ideal opportunity to interact with high-level teams, in addition to contacting the players of the Latin American continent.
The Qatar national team played in the 2019 Copa America, finished in Group B, tied its first match with Paraguay 2-2, and lost its other two matches against Colombia and Argentina.
In the CONCACAF Championship, the Qatari team reached the semi-finals, after drawing with Panama and defeating Geranada and Honduras in the group stage, then qualified at the expense of El Salvador in the quarter-finals, and narrowly lost to the United States in the semi-finals.
The most prominent current players in the Qatar national team
The Qatar national team is entering the World Cup competitions, relying on a number of players who participated in several tournaments and stood out with the national team, including: Akram Afif, Hassan Al Haidos, Abdul Karim Hassan (the best player in Asia in 2018), Al Moez Ali (the top scorer of the 2019 Asian Cup), Boualem Khokhi and Bassam The narrator, Abdulaziz Hatem, and goalkeeper Saad Al-Shaib.
Felix Sanchez.. from Barcelona to the Asian Champion
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Sanchez moved in 2013 to coach the Qatar youth team, which he led to achieving the Asian Cup the following year (Web)
After his beginnings working with the youth of FC Barcelona, Felix Sanchez, the current coach of the Qatar national football team, moved in 2006 to the “Aspire” Academy, in which he continued for 7 years until 2013, to move to training the Qatar youth team, which led him to achieve The Asian Cup the following year, accompanied by talents from the academy.
After training the Qatari national teams under 19, 20 and 23, Sanchez was appointed coach of the first national team in 2017, to continue his journey with players who graduated with him in the age groups, such as Akram Afif, Hassan Al Haidoos and Al Moez Ali, in addition to other players. And he led the national team to achieve the Asian Cup title in 2019, for the first time in its history.
FC Barcelona says, in its official account: “In Asia, there is a winning coach who carries the DNA of our club. He is Felix Sanchez, who led Qatar to achieve the Asian title.”
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“With his roots in FC Barcelona, Sanchez succeeded in infusing the DNA of our club in Sergi Roberto, Marc Monisa, Gerard Deulofeu and Martin Monoya, until he traveled to Qatar in 2006.”
He added, “Despite his presence a great distance away, Sanchez succeeded in applying our philosophy and approach to possession, and to developing Qatari football, through the Barcelona style. The percentage of possession of the ball in his matches reached about 70%.”
Will the Qatari team be the black horse in the tournament, taking advantage of the ground and the public, in addition to the wonderful combination made by the Spanish coach?