Qatar, Albania Friendly Football Match Sunday

Vienna, May 28 (QNA) - Qatar squad has kicked off a week of training sessions, their first since the football season concluded last week. Coached by Daniel Carreno, Qatar will play a friendly against Albania on Sunday before winding down their training camp in Austria. The squads training camp is based 90-minute drive away from Vienna, a Qatar Football Association (QFA) official said on Saturday. Carreno is heading the two daily training sessions scheduled by the team management. With Qatar having qualified for the next stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying stage, the emphasis is on helping the squad retain their playing groove ahead their September 1 clash against Iran. Last week Carreno announced a long list of international friendlies and those will be played in August. "The game against Albania will be a good practice for the boys. We are more concerned about the players remaining match-fit and injury-free," Carreno said before his departure with the squad. According to Carreno, around 18 players could get a look-in for the match against Albania. In April, Qatar were drawn into Group A, along with Iran, South Korea, Uzbekistan, China and Syria as the draw for the third and final round of the 2018 World Cup Asian Zone qualification was conducted in Kuala Lumpur. Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq and Thailand form an equally complicated Group B. The third round will be played from September 1, 2016, to September 5, 2017. The winner and runner-up of each group (four teams in total) will qualify for the Russia finals while the two third-placed teams will advance to the Asian play-off round. The winner of it will take on the side that finishes fourth in the fifth round of the CONCACAF qualifiers in a two-legged inter-confederation play-off. (QNA)