Spanish coach Bartolomé Márquez Lopez, coach of the Qatari national football team, confirmed the full readiness to play tomorrow, Tuesday, against the UAE national team, which will be hosted by Al Nahyan Stadium in the capital, Abu Dhabi, for the sixth round of the first group of the third and decisive round in the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup finals.
Coach Lopez said in his statements during the press conference preceding the confrontation: Our ranks are complete except for the absence of the player Abdullah Al-Yazidi, who was injured and is undoubtedly one of the influential players, but we have many players who are able to compensate for this absence.
He added: A strong confrontation awaits us against the Emirati team, with a different nature than the first leg, but our victory over Uzbekistan in the last round gave us a great morale boost, pointing out that the Qatari team is not suffering from pressure and has worked to overcome all difficulties.
At the conclusion of his statements, the Spanish Lopez stressed that the team will seek to double its levels of concentration and play with great balance on all lines in order to continue its positive path and achieve its third victory.
For his part, Akram Afif, the Qatari national team striker, considered that tomorrow’s match is a pivotal step in the process of direct qualification to the 2026 World Cup finals, stressing at the same time the importance of earning points to preserve the team’s chances of achieving a second World Cup appearance in a row.
Afif said: All the players are waiting to play tomorrow’s match, and it is currently important to collect points, stressing that the team’s goal is to reach the World Cup.
At the same time, he expressed his hope that the fans would support the team in the match stadium, noting that this support would have a positive impact, both psychologically and morally.
Afif concluded his statements by saying: Our goal is to make our fans happy in this difficult match, and we will try to win, and what comes next is better for them and for us.
The Qatari team has seven points to its credit, placing it in fourth place in Group A on goal difference from the third-placed Emirati team, while the Iranian team leads the standings with 13 points, three points ahead of the Uzbek team, which is in second place with ten points, and then comes the North Korean team. In fifth place with two points, while the Kyrgyz national team is in last place with no points remaining.
The top two teams from each group qualify directly to the 2026 World Cup finals, while the two teams in third and fourth places move on to compete in the fourth round to compete for two tickets to the World Cup and a ticket to the global playoff.
