FIFA World Cup Qualifiers
(Courtesy : AFC Media)
Rutvij Joshi
Qatar national team head coach Marquez Lopez has named a relatively young squad for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026 and Asian Cup 2027 joint qualifiers next month. Star forwards and 2023 AFC Asian Cup champions Akram Afif and Almoez Ali along with many other players have been rested for the final two fixtures of Group A.
Qatar are set to play Afghanistan on June 6 at the Prince Abdullah Bin Jalawai Stadium in Hofuf, Saudi Arabia. Five days later, on June 11, Qatar will host India at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium.
In a bid to rejuvenate the squad, coach Lopez has also omitted veteran defender Pedro Miguel, goalkeeper Meshaal Barsham, and Bassam Al Rawi. Besides Afif and Almoez, these absences reflect a strategic decision to provide opportunities for emerging talents by the Spanish tactician.
The team will also be without their Asian Cup-winning captain Hassan Al Haydos, who retired from international duty in March. Qatar are already through to the next round of qualifiers. The team’s previous matches saw them dominate with a 3-0 away victory against India at the Kalinga Stadium and an 8-1 thrashing of Afghanistan at the Khalifa International Stadium.
Meanwhile, the Al Annabis have named in their squad Indian national Tahseen Mohammed, the teenage sensation who recently made headlines making his debut for Al Duhail in the Qatar Stars League, the first division of Qatar Football pyramid.
The Aspire Academy graduate has a ‘Mission Passport’ which helps him represent Qatar. Many players in the Qatar squad have acquired this passport and are representing the Gulf nation.These passports are temporary in nature and come with an expiry date. So, even though he is a legal Indian citizen and set to turn adult in June, he wanted to represent Qatar.
The left winger has played against India at U-17 level during India’s exposure tour in Qatar last year. Although the youngster has just featured for four games in the top division, Qatar FA and head coach Lopez Marquez were eager to give him a platform and make sure he doesn’t change his decision of not representing Qatar.
Squad: Amir Hassan, Ali Nader, Saad Al Sheeb, Shehab Al Laithi, Abdullah Al Ahrak, Abdullah Al Yazidi, Abdullah Youseff, Ahmed Al Janahi, Ahmed Fathy, Ahmed Al Rawi, Al Hashaemi Al Hussein, Fares Saeed, Homam Al Amin, Hazem Ahmed, Ibrahim Al Hassa, Jassim Al Sharsani, Khaled Ali, Mahdi Maged Al Moajaba, Mohamed Ayash, Mohamed Khaled, Mustafa Tariq, Nabeel Irfan, Naif Al Hadhrami, Tahseen Mohamed, Tamim Mansour, Youseff Abdulrazzaq, Youseff Ayman, Youseff Mohamed and Youseff Ziad.
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