Qatar's captain Hassan Al Haydos kicks the ball during a practice session yesterday.
Doha: Qatar are eyeing a better performance as they meet hosts Republic of Ireland today in the 2022 FIFA World Cup European Qualifier, three days after going down against Portugal.
The match will be played at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, with the kick off set for 9:45pm, Qatar time.
UEFA invited Al Annabi – the reigning champions of Asia – to participate in the European Qualifiers as part of their preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which Qatar will host.
The national team accordingly joined Group A along with Portugal, Serbia, Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan; they are playing their ‘home’ matches in Europe in order to facilitate short travel times for their opponents.
On Saturday, Qatar suffered a defeat against Portugal after goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Jose Fonte and Andre Silva.
The Felix Sanchez-coached side is hoping to put up a better show against the home team today, who they held to a 1-1 draw in March this year.
“All our matches in the European qualifiers are important and we are trying to benefit from playing against all the teams,” the Qatar coach told a pre-match press conference yesterday.
Qatar midfielder Assim Madibo said the players were gaining good experience in European qualifying matches against the European teams.
“These matches are good for us. The goal is to take advantage of the technique to enhance the positives and avoid the negatives in these matches,” he said.
Qatar flew from Algarve, Portugal on Sunday and held a training session yesterday to prepare for the match. Sanchez is expected to make changes in the match.
Meanwhile, Ireland manager Stephen Kenny termed Qatar a good side telling his ranks to give their best against the Asian champions.
“Our objective is to go out and win the game, but we will have to earn the right to do that. Qatar have earned some good results over the year. They are a very attacking team, they like to control a lot of games against the better teams,” he said.
“We will have to play really well, and we want to do that. We want to win at home, we want to experience that and we want the supporters to experience that,” Kenny added.
