Qatar Football Association
Qatar’s national team will be aiming for a positive result and a credible display when they make their 2021 Gold Cup debut on Tuesday.
Qatar will take on Panama at the BBVA Stadium in Houston, home of MLS side Houston Dynamo.
Led by Spanish coach Felix Sanchez, the Maroons have come a long way in recent years. They will head into the World Cup as continental champions after lifting the AFC Asian Cup for the first time in 2019.
Since then, Qatar have soaked up a stack of international experience. The team competed in the 2019 Copa America and have recently faced several European teams after being invited to participate in UEFA’s FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign as a guest nation.
Qatar’s next challenge will be facing the best teams from North, Central America and the Caribbean in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which began in the United States on July 10 and will conclude on August 1.
Yet, Panama won’t be an easy matchup for the tournament invitees. It is a two-time finalist, and the Central Americans are in an exciting time, with a young wave of players entering the national team under coach Thomas Christiansen.
Coming off their first FIFA World Cup participation at Russia 2018, Panama utilized the 2019-20 Concacaf Nations League to give opportunities to younger players like 22-year-old Adalberto Carrasquilla. The Panama City native scored his first international goal in a 4-1 win over Bermuda in League A in September 2019.
“The Gold Cup will see us play against teams with different playing styles to our own – it will be a valuable experience.” coach Felix Sanchez said in the pregame press conference held one day before his team takes on Panama.
“Panama are a very good team with a great deal of international experience, but we are confident we will give a good account of ourselves”, he added.
Sanchez said competing in the Gold Cup would test the squad. “It’s a significant tournament for us,” said Sanchez. “Playing official competitions in a different environment to Asia presents us with a much-needed test to see how well we can compete against different teams in the World Cup.”
Qatar have been drawn in a group containing Grenada, Honduras and Panama. Their first match – against FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 qualifiers Panama – will take place in Houston, Texas tonight (kick-off 2 am Doha time).
“Since we are playing the World Cup (in 2022), it will be good to play other types or styles of football. It will be good for us to get this experience and to improve our international level. We need to adapt any possible scenario, and that’s how we are trying to play,” the Spaniard said.
“Our rivals in the group have qualified to play in the tournament. Honduras and Panama national teams have also played World Cups in recent past”.
“Their players play in Mexico, Europe and elsewhere, and they have experience. They will be a big challenge. It will be another experience to play in this league. We hope we will compete well against these teams and try to get good results in the group stage,” Sanchez added.
After their match against Panama, the Asian champions face Grenada on July 17 before concluding the group stage against Honduras on July 20. Qatar squad had a three-week training camp in Croatia where they beat Croatia’s reserve team and El Salvador. Qatar is the seventh non-CONCACAF country to compete in the Gold Cup, the first from the Arab world, and the second to represent the Asian Football Confederation after South Korea.