what are the ambitions of the Qatari selection?

Last Tuesday, Education City Stadium in Doha. In a brand new stadium, one of eight that will host the cream of world football at the end of the year, Qatar received Slovenia as part of a mini-tournament with Croatia and Bulgaria. For an ideal rehearsal before the planetary meeting. In the stands of this top-of-the-range stadium, which can accommodate 40,000 spectators, only 3,122 people were present for the occasion, with in particular 200 Qatari supporters installed behind one of the goals to encourage their selection. A meager attendance, just under eight months from the start of the competition, which testifies, for the moment, to the lack of enthusiasm around the al-Annabi (the maroons, the nickname of the national team) expected for the first time at the World Cup as the host country. You don’t become a football nation overnight…

In the field, the selection led since 2017 by the Spanish technician Félix Sanchez, a pure product of…