Qatar kicks off national team training ahead of Gold Cup

The Maroons are set to play at CONCACAF Gold Cup for the second time in a row.

Qatar’s Al Annabi national team kicked off a three-day training camp at Aspire Academy on Monday ahead of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Led by Coach Carlos Queiroz, the team will take on a range of drills to prepare for the tournament, scheduled to be from June to July this year.

The 2022 World Cup hosts were invited as a guest team and will face off against teams from North America, South America, and the Caribbean for the second time at the competition.

After attending the brief camp, Al Annabi will depart for Vienna on Thursday for the second phase of the training camp to prepare for Group B of the tournament.

Strong contenders Mexico, Honduras, and one-time winners Haiti will go against Qatar’s 24-player squad.

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Fresh faces will start on the pitch as star players like Hassan Al Haydos, Akram Afif, goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb, Boualem Khoukhi, Karim Boudiaf, Pedro Miguel, Abdulaziz Hatem were left out of the calling.

In addition, the country’s newly seated coach has voiced his expectations to use his lengthy coaching experience to up the levels of the Maroons at all international competitions, notably the Gold Cup, the 2026 World Cup and the 2024 Asian Cup.

The former Iranian coach said his main priorities will be preparing his team for the World Cup qualification campaign in November and performance in the 2024 Asian Cup.

“If you cannot climb one mountain with one step, you need to go step by step. You need to be a winner in the first stage, a winner in the second stage, a winner in the third stage,” said Queiroz in a press conference earlier this month.

“To qualify for the World Cup is the ultimate goal. In November 2023, our World Cup will start. This is our trophy. We don’t have too much time. We have 183 days to start our World Cup. We cannot climb a mountain with one step, we have to take many steps,” Queiroz added.

For the Asian Cup, Qatar is positioned in Group A with China, Tajikistan, and Lebanon, which will kick off from 12 January to 10 February 2024.