Joan Cusco, the FIFA Beach Soccer CEO, is seen with Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee’s Nasser Al Khater at the draw ceremony of the Asian Zone qualifying event of the 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. Hamad Al Mannai, Vice Chairman of Futsal and Beach Soccer, Qatar Football Association (QFA), was also present.
DOHA: Qatar yesterday were handed a tough draw to reach the 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup to be held in Tahiti next year.
Qatar, hosting the event for the first time, were drawn alongside Oman and Australia in the 16-team Asian Zone qualifying tournament to be held on the beach front of Katara from January 22 to 26.
The draw ceremony for the Asian Zone qualifiers was presided by Joan Cusco, the FIFA Beach Soccer CEO.
Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee official Nasser Al Khater and Hamad Al Mannai were also present.
Al Mannai is Tournament Director and Vice Chairman of Futsal and Beach Soccer, Qatar Football Association (QFA), while Al Khater is Communications and Marketing Director for the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee.
The fourth teams in Group A, B and D are yet to be decided, Cusco said.
In Group B, Japan were drawn with Bahrain and Lebanon while the UAE have the company of Uzbekistan, Palestine and Saudi Arabia in Group C. Iran, Iraq and China form Group D.
Cusco said three Asian countries from the qualifying event in Doha will qualify for the finals to be held in Tahiti in September next year.
The top sides in each group in Doha will qualify for the semi-finals.
The two finalists in Doha secure berths at the finals in Tahiti while the third spot will be given to the winner of the 3rd-4th place play-off winner, Cusco said.
Carlos Alberto, the Qatar beach soccer coach, admitted his team faced a tough draw.
“It is very difficult to qualify as only one team goes to the next stage,” Alberto said. “(But) we are working hard to qualify. We are hoping we can do well.
“We will continue our preparation in the UAE where the weather conditions and playing facilities are more or less the same as we see in Qatar,” the Brazilian added.
“We want to try and qualify for the finals so that we can take the game forward in Qatar,” Alberto said.
“We have knowledge about Oman as we have played them recently. The other countries, we have to respect them. Australia are a surprise team for us. We have to prepare well,” the coach added.
“We will play a few friendlies,” he said. “We are in contact with national teams like China. They might come here. We want to play at least two friendlies by the end of this month,” he said. “The camp in UAE will last 10 days. We will commence next week,” he said.
“Currently we are training at Al Gharafa Stadium. There’s a nice place there. We have 14 players in our squad. We are facing pressure because we are the home team. We will use that pressure to raise our game,” Alberto said.
“Six or seven Asian sides are very strong. We are working and planning and once we get more experience, we will improve. This group is not bad (difficult). We could have a chance to qualify (for finals in Tahiti),” he said.
FIFA’s six chief sponsors will also be involved with the five-day beach soccer gala in Doha next month, Cusco said.
“Qatar wanted to involve all the six main partners of FIFA. This shows they are considering this as a very important event,” Cusco said.
Cusco said the Doha organisers had received the maximum number of requests from national federations outside Europe qualifying event which features 28 sides.
“That’s why we have three slots vacant in this draw. We will be able to give you the names of the remaining three participating countries in the next 10 days,” Cusco said. THE PENINSULA
