World Cup ‘marathon’ different challenge to Asian Cup, says Qatar’s Afif – Sportstar

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Published : Nov 02, 2024 11:01 IST – 3 MINS READ
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Qatar’s Akram Afif speaks during a news conference after receiving the player of the year award of the Asian Football Confederation. | Photo Credit: AP
Qatar’s Akram Afif believes the reigning Asian champion can overcome a faltering start to the third phase of the continent’s World Cup preliminaries as it seeks automatic qualification for the 2026 finals.
Afif was crowned player of the year by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the second time on Tuesday after playing a major role in his nation’s successful defence of the Asian Cup title on home soil earlier this year.
But Qatar’s attempts to qualify for the World Cup have been less straightforward than their continental title win, with Tintin Marquez’s side sitting in fourth in its group with four points from its opening four matches.
“Our situation in World Cup qualification is very hard,” said Afif, who was the leading scorer at the Asian Cup but has only netted once so far in the current round of preliminaries.
READ | FIFA World Cup 2026 AFC qualifiers third round points table
“It’s not easy, the situation in the Asian Cup is very different, you just win seven games and you win the tournament or you go out in the knockout stage. That’s it.”
World Cup preliminaries are, by contrast, a much longer endeavour. “The qualification is eight months and if you don’t go through, you go into the playoffs. So this is something long term, like a marathon.”
Qatar has never qualified for the World Cup, securing its berth at the 2022 finals as host, and recent results have increased the pressure on Marquez with only the top two finishers in each of Asia’s three groups guaranteed to progress.
Iran and Uzbekistan occupy those positions in the Group A standings with the pair on 10 points, six clear of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Kyrgyzstan is a further point adrift with North Korea bottom of the group.
While the top two qualify for the finals in North America, the third- and fourth-placed finishers advance to a further round to determine Asia’s eight guaranteed representatives at the tournament.
“It’s hard and the fans are not happy, of course,” Afif said. “As players we try our best. Sometimes we are going in difficult moments with difficult situations, bad results. It happens, this is part of football.
“But the most important is to come back to win and make the supporters happy. We are trying our best.
“Still we are not out and still we are not qualified. Imagine that we win the next two games, we are back and maybe we are second (in the group).”
Qatar’s next game is on Nov. 14 against an Uzbekistan side that has won three and drawn one of its four games so far but which Qatar defeated in a penalty shoot-out on its way to retaining the Asian Cup in February.
“I don’t want to think far, just think about the next game against Uzbekistan,” he said. “It’s not easy, Uzbekistan is a big team and we respect them.
“Yes, we won against them on penalties but that was eight months ago. Everything is different now. We will do our best and, Inshallah, we will see.” (
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