As anticipation grows, the countdown begins for teams preparing to compete in the FIFA Cup 2022, which will be held in Qatar; a historic moment for football, as this is the first time an Arab country will play host to the event.
The Qatar national team has been busily progressing through its own preparations, which will continue as the World Cup opening day approaches.In July, the Qatar Football Association revealed that the team has three friendly matches waiting in the wings as the players conclude their limbering-up for the big event.
The first of these friendlies will take place on 23 September, against Canada, while the second match will see the Qatari team vying against Chile for victory.
All three of these friendly matches will take place in Austria and are being staged as the third phase of the Cup’s direct preparations.
The first two stages of prep consisted of a training camp held in Marbella last summer, while the second stage was run this summer and gave the Qatari national team the chance to engage in some friendlies against European teams.
The eyes of the world upon them
There can be little doubt that the world will be watching the Qatari national team’s debut with great interest. Some may even be wondering if they might have what it takes to follow in the footsteps of Uganda and Italy, and win the tournament on their very first outing.
While such an achievement seems unlikely, as the team currently ranks only 49th, they have still had some notable performances over the past few years and fans will watch with curiosity to see how far they progress this time.
Among their most noteworthy achievements in recent years was Qatar’s third-place ranking in the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup and their impressive victory two years prior, in the 2019 Asian Cup.
During that tournament the team only conceded a single goal, and put up a impressive battle in their each of their matches, most notably defeating North Korea by 6 goals to nil and even trouncing hosts, the UAE, 4-0.
If they can replicate these performances in the upcoming World Cup they could find themselves vying for victory against some of the best players in the world.
In keeping with tradition
The Qatari team’s preparations are particularly important when you take into account the latest news from Doha – newly unveiled plans to rearrange the opening dates of the Cup, so that the opening ceremony and Qatar’s first game will now take place on the same day – 20 November.
Originally, the first match of the tournament was Senegal playing the Netherlands. As mentioned by thefootballreports.com; if these new plans are formalized, it would continue the tradition of the previous four World Cups, in which the hosting nation played in the first match.
Whilst rumours of the rescheduling have made global headlines, nothing has been confirmed yet, as these new arrangements must first be voted on by FIFA’s regional confederations, as well as by the President, Gianni Infantino.
With some consternation likely, particularly from fans who may have to reschedule their travel plans, the understanding is that any financial costs to these fans would be “absorbed by organisers” – though it remains unclear exactly which organisers will be funding these costs.
