sport news 'Don't bet against them': Qatar's World Cup hopes rest on former Barcelona ... trends now
Aside from Qatar’s grubby human rights record and under-the-table corrupt dealings to host this tournament, football fans have objected to the 2022 World Cup on grounds of a lack of sporting heritage, culture and romance.
No nation since 1934 has hosted a World Cup having never played in a finals beforehand. Qatar lacks the storied venues like the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro or Berlin’s Olympiastadion. And to put it mildly, how many Qatari footballers can you name - past or present?
In 22 attempts, the World Cup hosts have staggeringly never lost the opening game of their home tournament. At a glance, that record looks in grave danger of ending as Qatar host Ecuador on Sunday in Al-Bayt.
Former Barcelona coach Felix Sanchez (pictured) is in charge of the Qatar national side
Many questions have been raised over Qatar's preparedness to host the 2022 World Cup
But while FIFA’s cabal of crooks straight-batted concerns over treatment of migrant workers and the LGBTQ+ community in the gulf country, Qatar’s football federation set about creating a team ready to compete in 2022, planning long before the gasps of horror as Sepp Blatter revealed a slip of paper announcing them as hosts.
‘Few teams will have prepared for this World Cup as meticulously or for as long as Qatar have,’ says Ali Rea, an expert on Qatari football. ‘The current squad was already being forged before the country was even announced as hosts in 2010.’
Qatar did not want to host the World Cup, they wanted to succeed in it - and money makes their world go round. The hub of that is at Doha’s £1.09billion Aspire Academy. It boasts the largest indoor football dome in the world and has room for science labs specialising in all sorts from altitude to anthropometry, and two hotels - one shaped like a torch.
Sanchez (right) has been working hard at the Aaspire Training Site in Doha to prepare
Qatar will take on Equador in their opening match of their home World Cup on Sunday
Its biggest accolade so far came in 2019, when underdogs Qatar won the Asia Cup, beating Japan and Son Heung-min’s South Korea on the way. Seventy per cent of that squad were nurtured at Aspire’s glittering palace, while the website also boasts Olympic medals won by high-jumper Mutaz Barshim.
The mastermind behind Qatar’s rise is Spaniard Felix Sanchez, who was head-hunted in 2006 from a role at Barcelona’s famed La Masia youth academy. He worked his way up from coach of the Under 19s to first-team manager and, with it, has tutored this group of players for more than a decade.
Sanchez was a coach at Barcelona's famed La Masia that has raised some huge talents
Eighteen of their 26 players at the World Cup were developed at Aspire, with Sanchez’s fingerprints all over it. Their model is heavily based on Spain’s all-conquering side of 2008-12, which won two European Championships and the 2010 World Cup. Qatar’s ultimate dream was to have Barcelona boss Xavi as manager, after he won seven trophies in charge of Al-Sadd.
So if Qatar can build a team from scratch with a bit of good coaching, why can’t any nation? As is the answer to most questions at this World Cup - money talks. Qatar paid huge salaries to global players to star in their domestic league and stay long enough to be eligible for the national team.
Ten of Qatar’s 26 stars at
