While the deaths of more than 6,000 migrant workers, abhorrent laws that discriminate against the LGBT community and fears of personal data being hacked have hogged the headlines, Qatar’s football team have been working away in the shadows for more than a decade.
And the culmination of those efforts is about to be examined under the brightest lights of all as the smallest nation to host a World Cup attempts to prove that it was all worthwhile.
But how seriously should they be taken? Is Felix Sanchez’s team capable of bloodying the nose of better opponents in the next 10 days?
History indicates host nations perform above par, pushed on by a population gripped by World Cup fever. But the fact Qatar’s core population, minus the migrant workers and visitors, is tiny may dilute the impact of home advantage.
South Africa in 2010 remain an outlier for hosts failing to emerge from their group but the likelihood is they will have company later this month.
Qatar have been granted special privileges in the past few years, invested significant amounts in development via the renowned Aspire Academy and, previously, leaned into naturalising players.
Most fans looking at the 26-man squad on paper will be forgiven for not recognising a single-name. It is a group entirely and deliberately based in the domestic league and they have been together in training camp for six months. While familiarity may be their greatest asset, a lack of regular competition with first-rate opponents should hinder them.
This past summer Watford and Shrewsbury pulled out of friendlies because of fan pressure, leaving Sanchez’s team to take on a Slovakian fifth division side, Partizan Domaniza, during a camp in Austria. Hardly comparable with a Netherlands team who are an outside bet to go all the away or Africa Cup of Nations champions Senegal.
There has been some high-quality international opposition in recent years, led by their bizarre inclusion in the 2019 Copa America (plans to appear in 2021 were scrapped because of Covid) and a spot in both Asia and Europe’s qualifiers for the World Cup.
But it is the Asia Cup win in 2019 that provides the biggest reason to be optimistic. By winning a tournament featuring, among others, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Iran while conceding just once - to Japan in a 3-1 win in the final - Sanchez’s team laid down a clear marker.
The head coach favours a 3-5-2 system where the wing backs sit deep when out of possession. There are concerns around their physical ability and dealing with set pieces, while hopes of a goal rest almost entirely on the dynamic front two of Almoez Ali and Akram Afif. They will not have too much possession and they must be clinical to stand any chance.
“When we have the ball we try to manage, although we know that against opponents of this level it is very difficult to take the initiative and we will have to adapt because that is the reality,” Sanchez told Marca recently.
“It would be suicide to try to take the initiative if we want to be competitive. We try to be compact defensively, allow the minimum opportunities and be strong in transitions."
Several years back there had been hope that Xavi, who had played and managed Al Sadd before returning to Barcelona, would be in charge rather than his compatriot. But Sanchez has progressed through the Qatari football system and is almost a paternal figure for a significant proportion of the squad having worked with many of them as youths at Aspire.
The academy, which is next to the Khalifa Stadium that will host seven World Cup fixtures, has been lauded by Lionel Messi and Pep Guardiola (who was flimsily linked with the Qatar head coaching role in 2015) but its impact will ultimately be judged by how the team performs in the coming days.
Founded in 2004, Aspire predates the country’s World Cup bid and to begin with they targeted naturalising youngsters from abroad.
By that point FIFA had already altered their eligibility rules following complaints from others. Attempts to fill the team with Brazilians led to the governing body determining that there must be a “clear connection” for a player to represent a country he was not born in - a parent or a grandparent born there or at least two years’ residency. In 2007 it became five years of residency.
Still, 10 of the 26 picked by Sanchez were born elsewhere - including Ali - meaning that if the hosts are to make it into the knockout rounds they will almost certainly be reliant upon those who have migrated to get them there.
