Sanchez names squad for final phase of World Cup preparation

Doha: Qatar head coach Felix Sanchez yesterday named 27-player squad for Al Annabi’s final phase of preparation for the FIFA World Cup at home.

The squad started the brief training camp at home yesterday before the players will depart for Spain for a training camp to give final touches to their preparation ahead of the big kick off. 

The FIFA deadline to announce the final 26-man squad is November 13. 

Meanwhile, the Asian champions are set to hold an open training session at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium at Al Sadd SC today. 

A huge number of fans are expected to attend the training session of the national team, which wrapped up their camp in Austria following their last international friendly against Chile which ended in a 2-2 draw. Qatar lost to Canada 0-2 in last week’s first friendly in Vienna.  

Today’s training camp is part of Qatar Football Association’s (QFA) promotional campaign to support their national team ahead of their debut at the FIFA World Cup. Qatar’s training camp in Doha will continue till Wednesday before the team leaves for Spain.   

Al Annabi started their World Cup preparation with a training camp in Marbella, Spain in June before moving to Austria for the second phase of preparation.   

The Asian champions will kick off their World Cup campaign with their first Group A match against Ecuador in tournament’s opening game on November 20 at Al Bayt Stadium. Al Annabi will also meet the Netherlands and Senegal in the group. 

Qatar squad 
Saad Al Sheeb, Meshaal Barsham, Pedro Miguel, Tarek Salman, Abdelkarim Hassan, Boualem Khoukhi, Akram Afif, Muhammad Waad, Musab Khedir, Ali Assad, Salem Al Hajri, Hassan Al Haydos, Mustafa Mashal (Al Sadd), Bassam Al Rawi, Assim Madibo, Almoez Ali, Karim Boudiaf, Ismael Mohamed, Mohammed Muntari, Abdelrahman Fahmi Moustafa (Al Duhail), Yousef Hassan, Ahmed Alaaeldin, Homam Ahmed (Al Gharafa), Abdulaziz Hatem, Naif Al Hadrami (Al Rayyan), Jassem Gaber (Al Arabi), Khalid Muneer (Al Wakrah).