Qatar players celebrate during a match, in this file photo.
Doha: FIFA World Cup hosts Qatar defeated Panama 2-1 in what was their penultimate friendly in their ongoing training camp in Marbella, Spain.
Giving final touches to their preparations ahead of making their World Cup debut, Al Annabi are now scheduled to meet Albania on November 9, before they return home after wrapping up the month-long training camp in Spain.
According to details made available, Qatar took a 2-0 lead in the first half against Panama, who cut the deficit in the second half on Saturday night.
After returning to Doha, Felix Sanchez’s Asian champions, who will meet Ecuador in their opening match of the World Cup on November 20, will hold closed-door training sessions at Aspire Zone.
With Qatar following an extensive preparation plan, which included their participation in tournaments like the Gold Cup or Copa America in recent years, coach Felix Sanchez says the remaining days prior to the kick off are also crucial for his team’s build up.
“We have been working for many years and now we see it so close and we are looking forward to that day. But these remaining days are also important to finish preparing the team and reaching our best version,” he said in an interview recently.
Last month, Sanchez named a 27-player squad for the ongoing preparatory camp in Spain and the coach will have to cut one name from the list as FIFA allows only 26-man squad. The FIFA deadline to submit final lists of players is November 14.
During their ongoing training camp in Marbella, Qatar also played several friendlies and claimed wins over Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala.
Qatar will enter the World Cup well prepared as the team started their training camp in Spain in June and moved to Austria for the second phase of preparation. The team lost to Canada 0-2 and drew against Chile 2-2 in Vienna during the camp.
After the World Cup opener, Qatar face African champions Senegal in their second match on November 25 before meeting the Netherlands on November 29 in their final group game.
Qatar Squad
Saad Al Sheeb, Meshaal Barsham, Pedro Miguel, Tarek Salman, Abdelkarim Hassan, Boualem Khoukhi, Akram Afif, Mohamed Waad, Musab Khedir, Ali Assad, Salem Al Hajri, Hassan Al Haydos, Mustafa Mashal, Bassam Al Rawi, Assim Madibo, Almoez Ali, Karim Boudiaf, Ismael Mohamed, Mohamed Muntari, Abdelrahman Fahmi Moustafa, Yousef Hassan, Ahmed Alaaeldin, Homam Ahmed, Abdulaziz Hatem, Naif Al Hadrami, Jassem Gaber, Khalid Muneer
