The captain of the Qatari national football team, Hassan Khalid Hassan al-Haydos, apologised to the Arab and Qatari people over Qatar's 1-3 loss to Senegal on Friday in their Group A second round match at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
After the end of Friday's match, al-Haydos said the Qatari team wasted 90 minutes in the first match, where the team did not appear at the level that was anticipated. Qatar had lost the first match against Ecuador 0-2. In the second match, the team performed well but unfortunately mistakes were recurrent and the team paid a heavy price, he said.
He noted that the team fell behind at the end of the first half and then conceded another goal at the beginning of the second half. After that, Qatar pressed and created chances, eventually scoring a goal to reduce the margin. However, the need to step up and attack cost them as Senegal scored the third goal.
Al-Haydos said the players did not fail, noting that they produced a superb match and made a great effort. However, he apologised to fans for the loss, wishing to put up a better performance in the last match against the Netherlands and in the future as well.
Commenting on whether the preparatory training camp might have negatively affected the team's appearance in the tournament, al-Haydos said he does not think so as the team was ready across all aspects, whether physically or technically, and played many matches. He added that the team was under heavy pressure after the first match of the World Cup where it did not perform as per expectations, and looked to compensate in the second game, adding that all players were in full readiness.
Hassan Khalid Hassan al-Haydos gestures during the match against Senegal.
