Abdulkareem Hassan gets off the coach after arriving in Tashkent, Uzbekistan yesterday. RIGHT: Talal Al Baloushi (left) and Wisam Rizq (centre) are seen prior to dinner after arriving at their hotel. Tomorrow, Qatar will play their final FIFA World Cup 2014 Group A, Asian Zone qualifying match against Uzbekistan in Tashkent.
DOHA: Qatar will be playing to win when they face hosts Uzbekistan tomorrow, team coach Fahad Thani said, following the squad’s arrival in Tashkent yesterday evening.
Qatar face Uzbekistan for their final 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match for their Group A, Asian Zone clash.
“For us this is an important game,” coach Fahad said yesterday.
“We are playing to win this match,” he added.
Qatar have been training in Doha since last Saturday for their clash in Tashkent.
The Qatar squad - headed by chief coach Fahad, announced a squad of 22 players for tomorrow’s match.
“We have a few absent players but we also have decent replacements. The players have the responsibility to give their best,” he said.
“I seek top effort from all the players,” he added.
“We have important matches coming up later in the summer,” he added.
“The friendly we played against North Korea helped the players get the Iran match out of their system,” he said.
Coach Fahad said players gave their best against Iran who defended well for their 1-0 win on June 4.
South Korea is placed at the top of Group A with 11 points from six matches, ahead of Uzbekistan on goal difference.
Iran has 10 points, Qatar has 7 points and Lebanon is last with 4 points.
Qatar has missed out on the chance to gain an automatic spot in next year’s FIFA World Cup after they lost 1-0 to Iran in Doha.
Qatar squad: Ibraheem Al Ghanem, Talal Al Baloushi, Wisam Rizq, Mohammed Kasoula, Khalfan Ibraheem, Ibraheem Magid, Hassan Haidos, Yousef Ahmed, Abdulkareem Hassan, Mohanad Naeem, Magid Mohammed, Mohammed Said Abdulmotaleb, Ahmed Sufyan, Musaab Mahmoud, Abdulgader Elias, Saoud, Hamad Al Obaidely, Hamid Ismaeel, Adel Lami, Ali Hassan Afifi, Hussein Ali Shihab and Khalid Muftah.
Coach: Fahad Thani.
Meanwhile, the Qatar Football Association, (QFA) yesterday announced a batch of 31 players for the Olympic squad’s summer training camp set to begin in the Netherlands later this week.
The Qatar squad leaves for Netherlands tomorrow and head back to Doha on July 8, QFA confirmed.
The Dutch trip is part of the team’s preparations plans for the GCC Cup (for Olympic teams) to be held in Manama, Bahrain, in August.
Squad: Badr Al Yazidi, Muhammad Naim Sheikh, Musab Al Khader Kamal, Hilal Mohamed Said, Ghasser Yahya Zakaria, Ali Asad, Hisham Kamal Hassan, Abdul Rahman Nasser, Aladdin Ahmed Badr, Mohamed Alaa El Din Badr, Abdullah Al Alawi, Muhammad Salah, Abdul Majeed, Abdullah Al Talib, Abdullah Hassan, Ahmed Saleh Khalfan, Ahmed Youssef, Abdullah Mohammed Al Sulaiti, Ahmed Fathi, Murad Naji Hussein, Faisal Abdul Aziz Hussein, Abdulaziz Adel Bader, Ali Ahmed Qadri, Fahd Younis Ahmed, Saud Al Mubarak Al Khater, Ahmed Fadel, Hassan Fazli, Soud Mohammed Khulaki, Hudhaifah Yahya Salmi, Mohamed Shaaban Muhammad and Said Haj.
Coach: Julio Cesar
THE PENINSULA
