The away fixture against UAE beholds an opportunity to build on the win against Uzbekistan and keep Al Annabi’s chances of direct qualification alive.

Qatar’s coach Bartolome Marquez Lopez knew the last match against Uzbekistan was a huge confidence boost, even though the 102nd-minute winner came after a scathing second half.

Qatar had blown a two-goal lead — for the fourth time in this campaign — before Lucas Mendes scored virtually with the last kick of the game. Suddenly, Qatar’s hopes of making it to the World Cup in North America were revived.

What lies ahead of Al Annabi, as Marquez Lopez hinted, is a bigger task at hand: to re-establish themselves as contenders to qualify directly.

“The match [against Uzbekistan] gave us a morale boost,” Marquez Lopez said. “But that needs to translate to the upcoming game against the UAE.”

Against the Emirati side on Tuesday that is also keen to put itself within touching distance from second place, Qatar will look to avenge the 3-1 opening-day defeat at home last September and most importantly, continue the momentum.

The comeback win against Qatar was a massive result for a UAE side which had let nine goals in two clashes before that.

Marquez Lopez’s side, however, are marred by injuries as full-back Abdullah Al-Yazidi and goalkeeper Saad Al-Sheeb join the likes of Pedro Miguel and Ismail Mohammed on the list.

Similarly, limited preparation time amidst a tight schedule has not exactly been ideal.

“The preparation period was very short between the two matches, but our focus should be solely on getting a positive result tomorrow,” Marquez Lopez added.

Both Qatar and UAE are tied on seven points in Group A with two wins, two losses, and a draw on the trot, separated by the goal difference.

While UAE’s campaign went off track after defeating Qatar on September 5, Al Annabi have also not looked convincing by their standards so far.

A win against Kyrgyzstan was the only perfect result that they had achieved before the Uzbekistan game and in similar terms, UAE went into their latest fixture against Kyrgyzstan with just a win on the cards.

UAE came out 3-0 victors on November 14 against the central Asian side to stay in contention for their bid to reach their first global finale for just the second time in history.

On Tuesday, the Emiratis will couple that newfound rhythm with the home advantage, which could make things tricky for Qatar, Marquez Lopez warned.

“[The] match in front of the UAE fans will be different from the previous match,” he said, hinting at a tough tie.

“UAE are an excellent team with good players. I think we did well against them [in Al Rayyan]. We were able to control the play in the first half, but in the second half, they made us pay through counterattacks. We must be focused this time to avoid that.”

If Qatar are to conclude their first perfect window of this campaign with a win in Abu Dhabi, expectations will naturally be on Akram Afif who clocked in two assists and started the sequence that saw Mendes score against Uzbekistan.

Afif said the boost in confidence is a plus but it is high time that the team’s performance reflects the abilities.

“Challenges make football enjoyable,” Afif, who was crowned the man of the match against Uzbekistan said.

“As players, we thrive on this kind of competition and we should set our sights on all three points.”