Hosts Qatar must conquer nerves before crucial clash against Senegal
DOHA: There’s a good chance the World Cup will go from bad to worse for the Qatar team if the players don’t conquer their nerves when they face African champion Senegal in their second group match.
The Qataris are already the first hosts to lose the opening game of a World Cup ater they were overwhelmed by their nation’s biggest sporting occasion in a 2-0 Group A defeat to Ecuador on Sunday.
That puts them in danger of also being only the second host ater South Africa in 2010 to be eliminated in the group stage.
“Maybe we felt a bit overwhelmed by the responsibility. We were nervous as well,” Qatar coach Felix Sanchez said. “I hope we will be under less pressure (against Senegal) and we can approach the game in a more competitive way. I think that is something we can work towards.”
Qatar’s next chance to show they deserve a place on a World Cup field comes on Friday against Senegal, a team still boasting an array of players from the top leagues in England, Spain, Italy and France even if it is missing injured forward Sadio Mane.
“We have a lot of room for improvement,” Sanchez said ater his players were in the glare of global scrutiny against Ecuador.
Qatar might be the 2019 Asian champions, but every squad member plays for a local club at home in an indicator maybe of the gap between them and the standard required at a World Cup.
Qatar’s struggles also stand out ater other teams from Arab countries have made themselves more at home at the first World Cup in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia’s colossal upset defeat of Argentina was followed by impressive performances from Tunisia and Morocco in the tournament’s first week.
Senegal also slipped to an opening loss at the World Cup but troubled a strong Netherlands team before second-half injuries to midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate and defender Abdou Diallo interrupted the West Africans’ rhythm and the Dutch took advantage to score two late goals.
Kouyate is likely out of the Qatar game but Senegal coach Aliou Cisse said the focus for his team is up front, where he has high expectations for a new forward line combination of Ismaila Sarr, Boulaye Dia and Krepin Diata.
They didn’t quite get it right in their first game together ater Mane was ruled out, but if they do against Qatar as Cisse expects it could be another long day at the World Cup for the hosts.