Qatar are back at the FIFA World Cup after the humiliation on home soil in 2022, but are they better placed now than they were four years ago?
In between their poor World Cup showing, and frustratingly inconsistent qualification campaign, they managed to win a second consecutive AFC Asian Cup title.
So who is the real Qatar and what should we expect from Julen Lopetegui’s side in North America?
We discussed their campaign on The Asian Game, including the initial call-up of 42-year-old Sebastian Soria and what that said about Qatar’s youth development.
No-one knows what to expect – Paul Williams
I mean, let’s be honest. Who knows what to expect from Qatar? They are the Jekyll and Hyde side of Asian football. They were diabolical at the World Cup four years ago, and either side of that at Asian Cup tournaments, you know, they’ve turned it on in tournament football, and yet in the World Cup qualifiers, they stank the joint up as well.
So I think if anyone says they know what to expect from Qatar, they’re lying, because I’m probably sure not even Julen Lopetegui knows what to expect from this Qatar side. They’re all over the shop.
We just spoke of Sun Hong Min and his importance to Korea. Qatar have got Akram Afif, who, if he’s not fit and firing, then I don’t know what hope they have, because he is literally the barometer of that side, and it seems like it’s all on Akram Afif.
If he fires, then anything could be possible for them, they could get out of the group, because you can get out from third spot. If he doesn’t, it’s hard to see anything but a repeat from four years ago.
Opportunity knocks… but can they take it? – Martin Lowe
In terms of their opportunities, I think we were sitting here three-and-a-half years ago looking at their group when they were going into 2022 saying all things being equal, it’s a relatively simple group with Ecuador, Senegal, and Netherlands. This group’s even worse, and you’ve got that opportunity to have third place going through.
That being said, the other three nations will be looking at Qatar and saying this is a gimme three points, so it is going to be that difficult in that respect. I think, in terms of Soria’s position, the issue is they just don’t have any other quality players in certain areas, and I think that could be the case where if Soria scores in one of the pre-tournament friendlies, he could be starting in the first one, I think.
Almoez Ali, we’ve said about it a number of times, just hasn’t hit the heights that he has previously, be it injury or be it opportunities within the national team, and still the same goes for (Hassan) Al-Haydos and his involvement around the camp.
The difficulty from Qatar’s perspective, is they had such a system going into 2022 under Felix Sanchez, and that system’s just gone. There’s no system whatsoever. And I think Lopetegui, if it had been earlier on in terms of his career within Qatar, he would have gone quite quickly after the Arab Cup in December.
So (they) just feel like another team that is in this limbo state, in terms of not really knowing what they stand for, in terms of an attacking side or a counter-attacking side, and all hopes really being pinned on one man to really just conjure anything from nothing.
And I think it’s disappointing that we’ve got here, given the amount of money and attention that’s been put into it. But Akram Afif, unfortunately, will probably be a lone man in terms of trying to get through a group that is actually doable on paper.
Painful 2022 experience might be of benefit – Michael Church
I have to admit, when I looked through the squad, I was wondering where Khalfan Ibrahim was, because he’s really about the only old guy that hasn’t been brought back out of retirement; Hassan Al-Haydos has come back out of retirement as well, so it’s a strange one to me. It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense what they’re doing, especially with Soria. I was just looking at his goals return in the league this season; he scored once in 13 games in all competitions. So, you do have to wonder why, and I think it’s really just a dearth of quality throughout the squad.
They really underperformed last time around, whether that was poor preparation, whether that was deer in headlights, whatever reason it was, 2022 was a complete disaster. I think they go into this World Cup at the very least, probably with no attention on them whatsoever, outside of Qatar. I don’t think anybody has any expectations whatsoever.
The upside will be there are a large number of players in that squad who are going to the World Cup, having already played at a World Cup, and have come through the challenges and the pressure and everything else that they experienced in 2022 as the home nation, with all that expectation, and look, they showed that they have some resilience, because obviously they came back and successfully defended the Asian Cup.
And I don’t think that win has maybe been given the credence that maybe it deserves, because again, they were going into that tournament off the back of that disappointing performance. They had a lot to prove, they were playing at home, they managed to string together some decent performances.
Look, it wasn’t a great Asian Cup, and they weren’t, by a long shot, the best ever Asian Cup winning side. But I think it showed something, that the team has a bit of character, that the senior players have a bit of character in the squad, (they) have a bit of resilience, and maybe that comes to the fore here, as especially with a little bit less pressure, a little bit less focus on them.
The group’s not particularly challenging. Switzerland are the top-ranked team in the group at 19th in the world. The Swiss should never be written off, they’re maybe not a nation that catches the eye a lot, but they’ll always put in solid enough performances. Bosnia and Herzegovina, they knocked out Italy in the playoffs, so they’re definitely not going to be any mugs, and they’re playing against the hosts, who have had a mixed series of results.
But I would say on paper I can’t see Qatar doing very much, but I do think that they’ve benefited from that last World Cup, and they might pull off a surprise.
