Queiroz announces the Qatar players participating in the Gold Cup
Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz announced the final list of 26 players for the 2023 Gold Cup, which will be held in the United States of America and Canada between June 24 and July 16.
Queiroz, who took over the leadership of “Al-Annabi” last February, excluded the quartet of Al-Sadd club, Akram Afif, who competed for the title of best player in the league, captain Hassan Al-Haydos, veteran defender Khokhi Boualem and goalkeeper Saad Al-Sheeb.
The former Real Madrid coach invited a number of young players, he said during a press conference that “comes within the framework of achieving long-term goals with the aim of drawing a better future for the Qatari team and placing it among the elite by investing in the big stations such as the Gold Cup and the Asian Cup, to the grand goal of securing qualification for the next World Cup finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico in 2026.
The preparatory camp for the Gold Cup begins on the 29th of this month for three days in Doha, before heading on the first of June to Vienna for a camp until the 19th of the same month, which includes three friendly preparatory matches against the local Croatia, Jamaica and New Zealand on the 8th, 15th and 19th of it, before traveling to the United States the day after.
Qatar was drawn in Group Two, along with Mexico, Honduras and Haiti.
The Qatar national team list includes:
Goalkeepers: Jassim Al-Hail, Salah Zakaria, Meshaal Barshim and Youssef Hassan.
Defense: Ahmed Suhail, Bassam Al-Rawi, Jassim Jaber, Hazem Ahmed, Tariq Salman, Musab Khader, Muhammad Al-Nuaimi, Hammam Al-Amin and Youssef Ayman.
Midfield: Ahmed Fathi, Asim Madibo, Abdullah Marafi, Ali Asad, Muhammad Waad, Mustafa Meshaal and Mahdi Salem.
Attack: Ahmed Alaa, Al-Moez Ali, Tamim Mansour, Khaled Mounir, Muhammad Muntari and Youssef Abdel-Razzaq.