Qatar coach Felix Sanchez has named a 27-member squad for the upcoming games of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup and the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers to be held from June 3-15. Al Sadd striker Akram Afif made a return to the squad after having been out for long time due to a muscle injury.
Qatar was picked by the Asian Football Confederation in March as the centralised venue to host the remaining Group E matches owing to the coronavirus -related travel and quarantine restrictions. The Qatar players will begin a training camp from Sunday ahead of the qualifiers.
The fifth group matches will be held in four rounds on June 3-7-11 and 15th, with seven matches. Qatar currently top the Group E ranking with 16 points from six games, Oman are second with 12 points from five matches, Afghanistan third with 4 points, India fourth with 3, and Bangladesh have 1 point.
Qatar beat Bangladesh 5-0 last December before the qualifiers were pushed ahead following the coronavirus pandemic. Qatar are also scheduled to participate in the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2021 as a guest team as AFC Asian Cup champions.
The tournament will be played in 11 cities across eight different US metropolitan areas, with the final taking place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on August 2. Qatar are in Group D (based in Houston, Texas, BBVA Stadium), the first match will kick off on July 13 against Panama, before Honduras takes on Grenada. On July 20 in Orlando, Grenada and Panama will close Group Stage play while Honduras faces Qatar in BBVA Stadium.
Qatar team
Tareq Salman, Abdelkarim Hassan, Pedro Miguel, Salah Zakaria, Mahmoud Abu Nada, Meshaal Barsham, Saad al-Sheeb, Mohamed Waad, Boulem Khoukhi, Salem al-Hajri, Humam Ahmed, Bassem al-Rawi, Musab Khidr, Ahmed Suhail, Hassan al-Haydos, Khaled Muneer, Abdelaziz Hatem, Abdullah al-Ahrak, Ismail Mohamed, Karim Boudaif, Assim Madibo, Almoez Ali, Akram Afif, Ahmed Alaaeldin, Mohamed Muntari, Sultan al-Brake, Youssed Abdel Razzaq.
Indian team to arrive in Qatar on May 19
India, who are already out of the reckoning for a 2022 FIFA World Cup berth but are still in contention for a 2023 Asian Cup spot in the joint qualifiers, will arrive on May 19 after Qatar accepted the All India Football Federation's (AIFF) request to allow Indian’s players to train in Doha ahead of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
Qatar has even agreed to the AIFF's request to waive the mandatory 10-day quarantine. The players will have a preparatory camp of nearly two weeks in a bio-bubble before their first match on June 3.
The Indian team will assemble in New Delhi and will be tested for COVID-19 before their departure to Qatar.