Ahead of 2022 World Cup, Qatar still has a long way to go

LUGANO, SWITZERLAND >> With four years to go before the next World Cup opens in Qatar, the small gulf country’s national soccer team is on the rise but still has a long, long way to go.

Qatar surprisingly won the right to host the 2022 tournament eight years ago, when it was ranked 113th in the world by FIFA. On Wednesday, exactly four years before the next World Cup is scheduled to open at Lusail Stadium outside Doha, the country still will be only No. 96.

There are positives, however, including Qatar’s 1-0 victory over Switzerland last week in a friendly match — an eye-opening result against a team that reached the round of 16 at the last two World Cups.

“It’s a big win for us especially (because) a lot of people don’t know us,” Qatar midfielder Assim Madibo said. “I think they will know us more after this game ... Now we are only focusing on playing big games so we will get respect and people will know us.”

Respect has been hard to come by for Qatar’s national team and the country’s hosting of the tournament in general. The team’s ranking has fluctuated between No. 78 and No. 112 since the December 2010 vote, and concerns about labor conditions for migrant workers has been an ongoing issue.

The win over Switzerland and subsequent 2-2 draw against Iceland were good signs, though a far cry from the progress Iceland has made in the same eight years, rising from No. 110 in the FIFA rankings to No. 36 following a quarterfinal run at the 2016 European Championship.

Still, the team is improving under coach Felix Sanchez, who spent a decade as a youth coach at Barcelona before becoming Qatar’s ninth coach in eight years.

Against the Swiss, the Qataris defended well and played their way out of danger rather than kicking long balls out from the back. The passing was crisp and accurate and it was from one of the frequent attempts at a breakaway that Akram Afif scored the game’s only goal in the 86th minute.

They’re not quite Barcelona, but they’re not too bad, either.

“I was working there for 10 years,” Sanchez said of his time at Barcelona. “When you go to work in a different place you need to adapt your philosophy. There are many things that we tried to keep and there are games where we can show more.”