DPA/Sydney
While the 2022 FIFA World Cup, to be hosted by Qatar, is seven years away, Qatar football coach Djamel Belmadi is already thinking of building a squad for the event.
“We have young players in this national team who may be able to play in the World Cup,” he said. “And our under-18s won the Asian Cup so they are good players too, our Olympic team plays the Gulf Cup this month.
“So we choose from all these players and try to be competitive in the World Cup in 2022. It’s very important at home for us to have a competitive team. I can’t say more, everyone tries for that and from my position I try to prepare our players as much as I can.”
Belmadi did not address the fact that the chance of lasting another seven years in charge of the Qatar national team is slim. It would be rare with most countries but coaches do not tend to last anywhere near that long with the ambitious Gulf state. But as a professional, the 38-year-old Algerian will try to prepare for the long-term goals of his association while simultaneously delivering short-term success.
Under Belmadi Qatar won the 2014 Gulf Cup, thanks to a victory over hosts Saudi Arabia, but stepping up a level at the Asian Cup in Australia has proved difficult. Qatar opened the scoring against the United Arab Emirates in their first group game but were eventually hammered 4-1. And a 1-0 defeat to Iran, in a match where the difference between the sides was much greater than the scoreline suggests, eliminated them from Group C with a game to spare.
After today’s match, there are a couple of friendly matches scheduled before a summer programme.
“We have a camp in the United Kingdom in June,” Belmadi said. “We will play two friendlies in the UK, one against Scotland and another which is to be confirmed. After that, we have World Cup qualifiers.”
The World Cup qualifiers he referred to are for Russia 2018. But for Qatar, even seven years out, there is only one World Cup which really counts.
