Saad Al-Suwaidi
The Qatar national football team will play two international friendlies in Austria, respectively, against Costa Rica on the 13th of November and South Korea on the 17th of November as part of preparations for the team’s participation in international competitions on the road to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
Al Annabi recently played a friendly against its Ghana in the Turkish city of Antalya on October 12, the first international encounter after a long hiatus due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Qatar are currently ranked 57th in the lastest FIFA classification for October and fifth in Asia, while the Costa Rica is ranked 50th in the world
Costa Rica will be a tough matchup for Al-Annabi as they participated in the last FIFA World Cup held in Russia in 2018.
The match is preparation for Qatar ahead of their participation in the CONCACAF Gold Cup next year, where they will compete among 16 of the best teams in the world. Qatar are drawn group D alongside Honduras, Panama and Grenada in the first round. Meanwhile, Costa Rica will play in Group C with Jamaica and Suriname, and one of the emerging teams from the qualifiers as well.
The Qatari national team’s participation in the Gold Cup precedes its second consecutive participation in the Copa America, hosted by Colombia and Argentina next year as it will compete against Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru in Group B (North).