Qatar’s national football team will play a friendly match against Cambodia at the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium today as part of Al Annabi’s preparations for the forthcoming AFC Asian Cup Qatar. It will be the first friendly for Qatar under new head coach Marquez Lopez. The team will wrap their Asian Cup preparations by meeting Jordan later on January 5.
Coach Lopez stressed on the importance of the friendly match against Cambodia. He told reporters that the match is important and will help in getting a good idea of the general conditions of the players. In the 26-man list of players, Lopez has summoned Al Wakrah goalkeeper Saud al-Khater, his teammate Mahdi Ali, and Al Duhail defender Sultan al-Breik, for the first time into the national side, while midfielder Assim Madibo and Karim Boudiaf have been excluded.
Meanwhile, the 21-year-old Osama al-Tairi, the youngest member in the Qatar squad, was ruled out with an ACL injury just two weeks before the Asian Cup. The Al Rayyan starlet was one of only four U-23 players in the preliminary squad
The Maroons were in action last month, recording a 3-0 win over India in a 2026 World Cup qualification clash while Cambodia lost 1-0 to Pakistan in their first-round World Cup qualifier in October. Qatar are the defending champions at the AFC Asian Cup and will begin their campaign on January 12 against Lebanon in Group A which also includes China and Tajikistan.
Meanwhile, Felix Dalmas, head coach of the Cambodian national football team, has said that the match against Qatar is a great way for Cambodia’s top talents to raise their profile.
The visitors are likely to provide competitive opposition to Qatar although there is not much experience in their squad, with Soeuy Visal, Sareth Krya and Sos Suhana being the only three players to have represented the national side on more than 13 occasions.
Qatar’s Almoez Ali and Hasan al-Haydos at a training session at the Aspire Academy, on the eve of their friendly against Cambodia.
