Injured Afif misses out as Sanchez names Qatar squad for European qualifiers

Al Sadd forward Akram Afif is notable absentee after he was ruled out due to a thigh muscle injury. Afif suffered the injury during their QNB Stars League game against Umm Salal and could be out of action for up to six weeks, Al Sadd said.The squad began training yesterday at Aspire Academy and will fly out to Hungary on March 19. The Asian champions will join Group A – alongside UEFA Euro 2016 winners Portugal, Serbia, Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg, and Azerbaijan.Qatar will play their ‘home’ fixtures on European soil in order to facilitate shorter travel times for their group opponents. As the FIFA World Cup 2022 host nation, Qatar has already qualified for the tournament.Though Qatar automatically qualify being the hosts but are taking part in the qualifying to get match practice in the lead up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Qatar take on Luxembourg in their first match on March 24. The second match will be against Azerbaijan on March 27. Qatar Squad

Pedro Miguel, Salem al-Hajri, Tariq Salman, Abdelkarim Hassan, Boualam Khokhi, Hassan al-Haydos, Youssef Abdel Razzaq, Ahmed Suhail, Musab Khader and Mohamed Waad (Al Sadd); Salah Zakaria, Bassam al-Rawi, Asim Madibo, Almoez Ali, Karim Boudiaf, Ismail Mohamed, Mohamed Muntari, Abdullah Abd al-Salam (Al Duhail); Ahmed Ala al-Din, Humam al-Amin, Muayyad Hassan and Tamim al-Muhaizeh (Al Gharafa) Ahmed Fathi and Mahmoud Abu Nada (Al Arabi) Abdul Aziz Hatem (Al Rayyan) Khaled Munir (Al Wakrah)Coach: Felix Sanchez Cordova names under 23 squad

Coach Nicolas Cordova, Qatar’s Under-23 coach, has named a 33-player squad for a two-week training camp that will include two friendlies against Kosovo.The squad has been named to prepare the for the AFC U-23 qualifying group to be held later this year in October.Qatar Olympic squad also play two friendlies – on March 27 and 29 during a March 15-30 camp. The two friendlies will be held at Aspire Academy’s No. 4 pitch. This will be the first appearance of the Qatar Olympic squad under Chilean coach Nicolas Cordova. The training begins from tomorrow and ends on the 30th.The players will return to their clubs on Jan 31 for Qatargas U-23 League. Al Gharafa and Al Wakra players will join the national team’s training on March 17 after the end of the two team’s match Round 21 of the QNB Stars League matches.

Squad: Mustafa Tariq Mishaal, Youssef Abdullah Blida, Faisal Mohamed, Baha Mamdouh al-Laithi, Hashem Abdullatif and MohamedMannaei (Al Sadd) Jassim al-Muhairi, Khaled Mohamed and Ali Karmi (Al Duhail). Jasim Jaber, Abdullah al-Sulaiti, Abdul Rahman al-Sadiq (Al-Arabi) Yusef Ayman, Nasser Bir and Isa Ahmed (Qatar SC), Mohamed Imad, Yaseen Farid, Amir Abdullah (Al Wakrah). Al-Makki Mohsen, Abdulaziz Hazza, Nayef al-Hadrami (Al Rayyan), Nasser al-Yazidi, Rabah Bousafi (Umm Salal), Abdulrashid Umaru and Mohamed Khalid al-Nuaimi (Al Ahly). Abdullah Nasser al-Muraisy, Diab Haroun (Al Khor) Ahmed al-Janahi and Andrei Siahpotra (Al Gharafa) Marwan Sharif (Al Shahaniya) Shihab Mamdouh al-Laithi (Al Kharaitiyat), Ahmed Sebaei (Al Sailiya), Osama al-Tiri (Muaither)