Marooned after World Cup misery, Qatar turn to canny Carlos Queiroz

G iven the consternation in Qatari football about the focus on off-pitch issues by sections of the international media during the World Cup, perhaps it is no surprise that Carlos Queiroz was appointed as the country’s head coach in February. The spiky septuagenarian was last seen on the global stage attacking western journalists for asking non-football questions, actions that went down well in parts of the world, including Doha.

Given the on-pitch disaster that unfolded at the World Cup with three losses in three games, the federation may think they should have appointed him a little earlier. The World Cup spotlight has left Doha but the country’s football struggles have continued. Last month the Qatar Stars League leaders, Al Duhail, made it to the last four of the Asian Champions League, giving themselves a chance to become the country’s first finalist since 2011. Also playing at home, they were thrashed 7-0 by Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal.

Days later the Under-20 Asian Cup was a chance to show that the investment in youth made over the years had paid off. Yet it also ended with zero points from three games, with the final defeat a 9-1 thrashing by Australia (led by the well-travelled English coach Trevor Morgan). “We were not able to cope with the demands of the game,” said Qatar’s coach, Iñaki Abadia. “We have no excuses. We need to look inside, at what went wrong in this process.” Similar words could have come from the World Cup manager, Félix Sánchez, or Al Duhail’s Hernán Crespo.

Four years ago Qatar were in football dreamland. The Maroons had been dominant in winning the 2019 Asian Cup, scoring 19 goals and conceding one as they defeated the traditional continental powers Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Japan on their