World Cup ‘marathon’ different challenge to Asian Cup, says Qatar’s Akram Afif

DOHA – Qatar’s Akram Afif believes the reigning Asian champions can overcome a faltering start to the third phase of the continent’s World Cup preliminaries, as they seek automatic qualification for the 2026 Finals.

Afif was crowned Player of the Year by the Asian Football Confederation for the second time on Oct 29, after playing a major role in his nation’s successful defence of their Asian Cup title on home soil earlier in 2024.

But Qatar’s attempts to qualify for the World Cup have been less straightforward than their continental title win, with Tintin Marquez’s side sitting in fourth in their group with four points from their opening four matches.

“Our situation in World Cup qualification is very hard,” said Afif, who was the leading scorer at the Asian Cup but has only netted once so far in the current round of preliminaries.

“It’s not easy, the situation in the Asian Cup is very different, you just win seven games and you win the tournament or you go out in the knockout stage. That’s it.”

World Cup preliminaries are, by contrast, a much longer endeavour.

“The qualification is eight months and if you don’t go through, you go into the play-offs. So this is something long term, like a marathon,” Afif added.

Qatar have never qualified for the World Cup, securing their berth at the 2022 Finals as hosts, and recent results have increased the pressure on Marquez with only the top two finishers in each of Asia’s three groups guaranteed to progress.

Iran and Uzbekistan occupy those positions in the Group A standings with the pair on 10 points, six clear of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Kyrgyzstan are a further point adrift with North Korea bottom of the group.

While the top two qualify for the Finals in North America, the third- and fourth-placed finishers advance to a further round to determine Asia’s eight guaranteed representatives at the tournament.

“It’s hard and the fans are not happy, of course,” Afif said. “As players we try our best. Sometimes we are going in difficult moments with difficult situations, bad results. It happens, this is part of football.

“But the most important is to come back to win and make the supporters happy. We are trying our best. Still we are not out and still we are not qualified. Imagine that we win the next two games, we are back and maybe we are second.”

Qatar’s next game is on Nov 14 against an Uzbekistan side that has won three and drawn one of their four games so far but whom Qatar defeated in a penalty shoot-out on their way to retaining the Asian Cup in February.

“I don’t want to think far, just think about the next game against Uzbekistan,” he said. “It’s not easy, Uzbekistan is a big team and we respect them.

“Yes, we won against them on penalties but that was eight months ago. Everything is different now. We will do our best and, Inshallah, we will see.” REUTERS