Report: Qatar national football team coach fired

Jose Daniel Carreno
Jose Daniel Carreno

Qatar has reportedly sacked José Daniel Carreño as its national football team coach amid flailing hopes of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.

According to AFP, Carreño may be replaced by fellow Uruguayan Jorge Fossati, the current coach of Al Rayyan.

The newswire quoted him as saying this week:

“Qatar is a special country for me and I cannot refuse an offer (to coach the team) if it is made to me.”

He had previously worked as coach of the national team a decade ago.

Proving itself

As host of the 2022 World Cup, Qatar will automatically be allowed to play in those games.

But it hopes to qualify to compete in 2018 to prove its football mettle to the world.

However, whether this will happen is now in doubt. The team has suffered two back-to-back losses in recent weeks.

To make it to Russia, AFP says Qatar will need to gain the maximum points during its next three matches.

Qatar is scheduled to play South Korea on Oct. 10, Syria on Oct. 11 and China in November. It will also have rematches with Iran and Uzbekistan in 2017.

Thoughts?