Qatar will have to spring a surprise to avoid becoming only the second host nation to be knocked out of a World Cup in the first round, with the Netherlands and Senegal favourites to progress from Group A.
The Asian champions will open the tournament on November 20 against Ecuador at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, after the tournament start date was moved forward to allow the home side to play the first match. The Qatar squad spent almost four months in near-lockdown to prepare for the tournament, but have struggled in recent friendlies – losing to Canada and a Croatia Under-23 team.
“They are preparing for a World Cup for the first time in their lives. These players are sacrificing their time, they are staying away from home, from their families,” former Qatar player Mohamed Mubarak al-Mohannadi told AFP in September.
The only time the hosts fell at the first hurdle was when South Africa went out in the 2010 group stage. Qatar will be quietly confident of making an impression in their first appearance at the global showpiece, though, having won the 2019 Asian Cup and reached the semi-finals of the Arab Cup 12 months ago.
Ecuador have qualified for only their fourth World Cup and will be the underdogs in the group. Three-time losing finalists the Netherlands, featuring Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk and several exciting young players including PSV Eindhoven’s Cody Gakpo, take on Senegal the following day.
All five African teams failed to reach the knockout phase of the 2018 edition in Russia, although Senegal will be expected to get through this time after the heartbreak of missing out to Japan four years ago only due to their worse disciplinary record.
Sadio Mane, who finished second in this year’s Ballon d’Or voting to Karim Benzema, will lead a strong squad who won their first ever Africa Cup of Nations title in February. Aliou Cisse’s men will have to cope with the weight of expectation, as their fans hope to see the side become the first from Africa to reach a World Cup semi-final. Coach Cisse was part of the Senegal team which made a surprise run to the 2002 quarter-finals, beating defending champions France on the way.
The Dutch return to the finals after missing out on qualification for Russia. Louis van Gaal, who took them to a third-place finish in 2014, is back in charge and the Oranje are unbeaten since being dumped out of Euro 2020 by the Czech Republic, without the injured Van Dijk.
The winners of Group A will face the runners-up of Group B – containing 2018 semi-finalists England, the United States, Iran and Wales – in the last 16. “My personal goal is to become world champion and I want to pass that on to my players, even if it sounds like I’m being arrogant,” said the 71-year-old Van Gaal. “I’m not doing it for myself but for Dutch football.”
Van Gaal, who earlier this year revealed he had been receiving treatment for prostate cancer, will end his third spell as Netherlands coach after the tournament and be replaced by Ronald Koeman.
The Netherlands will be without experienced midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum who suffered a broken leg just one game into his loan spell at Roma from Paris Saint-Germain.

Factfile
Best World Cup performance: First appearance
Other honours: Asian Cup winners 2019
FIFA ranking: 50th
Main clubs: Al Sadd, Al Duhail, Al Rayyan
How they qualified: Automatic qualification as hosts

Key player
Qatar are counting on Akram Afif for the goals needed to get the victories required in the group. Afif, who will be 26 two days before the November 20 start of the World Cup, played for the Qatari-owned Eupen team in Belgium as well as Sporting Gijon in Spain before joining Al Sadd, who were Qatari champions in 2021 and 2022.

Coach
Felix Sanchez, 46, moved to Qatar in 2006 after 10 years coaching Barcelona youth teams. The Spaniard guided Qatar to the Asian Cup title in 2019 and now has a mission to get the World Cup hosts past the first round. Sanchez started at the Aspire Academy, training the Gulf state’s young athletes, but was under-19 coach and under-23 coach before taking on the national side. Sanchez helped Qatar win the Asian under-19 title in 2014 and has brought many of the players into the national side for the World Cup campaign.

Group fixtures
November 20: Qatar v Ecuador
November 25: Qatar v Senegal
November 29: Netherlands v Qatar