Sanchez Announces Qatar's National Team Ahead of 2022 FIFA World Cup, 2023 AFC Asian Cup Joint Qualifiers

Doha, September 01 (QNA) - Qatar national team coach Felix Sanchez has announced a 24-member squad ahead of the matches against Afghanistan and India in the joint qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup. Qatar will play against Afghanistan on September 5th and then India on the 10th of the same month. Both matches will be played at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium. The squad is as follows: Meshaal Barsham, Saad Al Sheeb, Pedro Miguel, Salem Al Hajri, Tarek Salman, Abdelkarim Hassan, Khoukhi Boualem, Hassan Al Haydos, Akram Afif, Abdulaziz Al Ansari, Hashim Ali (Al Sadd), Bassam Al Rawi, Assim Madibo, Almoez Ali, Karim Boudiaf, Ali Afif, Mohammed Al Bakri (Al Duhail), Yousuf Abdurrazaq, Musab Kheder, Ahmed Fathi (Al Arabi(, Almahdi Ali, Ahmed Alaaeldin (Al Gharafa), Abdulaziz Hatem (Al Rayyan), Abdullah Abdulsalam (Al Ahli). Sanchez announced the squad after the end of the Week 2 matches in the QNB Stars League. Qatar will begin their preparations on Sunday with some light training. The team is looking to get off to a good start in Group E of the qualifiers by winning their first two games. In addition to Afghanistan and India, the group also consists of Oman and Bangladesh. While Qatar have already qualified for the next World Cup as hosts, topping their group will ensure a direct spot at the 2023 Asian Cup. All group winners will qualify directly for the finals, alongside the four best runners-up Besides, Sanchez announced a 26-member squad for the Qatar Olympic national team, ahead of the two upcoming friendlies against Jordan. The matches are being played as part of the preparations for the AFC U-23 Championship, which is set be held in Thailand in January and will serve as qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics. The squad is as follows: Mohammed Ismail Abushanab, Amro Seraj, Nasser Abdulsalam, Ilyas Ahmed, Andiy Syahputra, Abdullah Ali Al Saai, Ahmed Al Janehi, Salah Hassan (Al Gharafa), Khaled Muneer, Ahmed Suhail, Mohammed Waad (Al Wakrah), Ahmed Al Sebaei, Shehab Al Leythi, Khaled Mohammed (Al Duhail), Hazem Shehata, Yazan Naim, Hassan Balank (Umm Salal), Abdulrahman Mohammed Fahmy, Abdulrashid Umaru (Al Ahli), Adel Bader, Ahmed Al Menhali (Al Sailiya), Bahaa Al Leythi, Youssef Ayman (Qatar), Hussain Bahzad (Al Sadd), Ibrahim Masoud (Al Rayyan), Khalifa Al Malki (Al Arabi) The team is set to play the first friendly against Jordan on September 6th at Aspire Pitch No. 4, before playing them again on September 9th on the same ground. Qatar qualified for the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship after topping their qualifying group with seven points from three games, finishing ahead of Oman on goal difference. Afghanistan and Nepal came third and fourth respectively. Sanchez was appointed to the post of head coach of the Olympic team in August, replacing his compatriot Albert Fernandez. The new post will be in addition to Sanchez's job as coach of the senior national team, which he has held since July 2017. Sanchez has a great track record with Qatar's various national teams, starting with the AFC U-19 Championship victory in 2014, followed by a third-place finish at the AFC U-23 Championship in 2018 and finally the historic triumph with the senior team at Asia's most prestigious tournament the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. (QNA)