Al-Anabi has entered the decisive stage in preparing to compete in the 2026 World Cup finals, after Spain’s Julen Lopetegui announced yesterday the preliminary list for Al-Anabi, which included 34 players, marking the start of the countdown to the biggest challenge awaiting Qatari football in the next stage. The announcement of the list came after the curtain fell on the local season and the end of the Qatar Stars League and Emir Cup competitions, in addition to the season’s closing ceremony, which witnessed Akram Afif being crowned the best player for the sixth time in its history, and Mahmoud Abu Nada, the goalkeeper of Al Rayyan and the national team, winning the best goalkeeper award, while Prats, the coach of Al Shamal, was crowned the best coach award, in a season that witnessed strong competition and remarkable technical levels that were reflected in the choices of the technical staff of Al Annabi.
The initial list included a mixture of experienced elements and young faces who strongly imposed themselves during the ending season, as Lopetegui was keen to choose the players who were most technically and physically prepared, in an effort to reach the best possible combination before the start of the World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico during the period from June 11 to July 19. The players will be assembled on Friday.
The list witnessed the continuation of the basic pillars that the team relies on in the next stage, led by Akram Afif, Al-Moez Ali, and Hassan Al-Haydos, in addition to a group of names that shined locally and presented distinguished levels that prompted the technical staff to give them the opportunity in the final preparatory stage.
The list chosen by the Spanish national team coach, Julen Lopetegui, included 34 players representing a group of basic elements, along with a number of young players, namely: Meshal Barshim, Mahmoud Abu Nada, Salah Zakaria, Shihab Al-Laithi, Ahmed Al-Janhi, Ahmed Alaa, Ahmed Fathi, Tariq Salman, Akram Afif, Edmilson Junior, Ayoub Al-Alawi, Sultan Al-Breik, Al-Hashemi Al-Hussein, Khoukhi Boualem, Pedro. Miguel, Bassam Al-Rawi, Jassim Jaber, Hassan Al-Haydos, Al-Moez Ali, Niall Mason, Sebastian Soria, Rayan Al-Ali, Assem Madbou, Abdelaziz Hatem, Issa Lay, Mohamed Manai, Karim Boudiaf, Lucas Mendes, Tahseen Mohamed, Mubarak Shannan, Hammam Al-Amin, Youssef Abdel Razzaq, Mohamed Muntari, and Mohamed Waad.
Careful preparation stage
Lopetegui is working during the current period to study all the technical details of the players, after a long and arduous season that witnessed disparities in technical and physical levels, as the Spanish coach seeks to draw the final features of the team before reducing the list and adopting the names that will take part in the global challenge.
The technical staff attaches great importance to the next stage, as it is the decisive period in preparing the team on the physical and tactical levels, especially with Lopetegui’s desire to build a homogeneous group capable of applying his technical ideas in the best possible way against different football schools in the World Cup.
The Spanish coach also focuses on raising the levels of harmony between the lines, and restoring the mental readiness of the players after a busy season of competitions, in light of great ambitions to provide a strong participation that reflects the great development that Qatari football has reached in recent years.
Two friendlies before kick-off
Al-Anabi will participate in a preparatory camp during the month of May, including two friendly matches, the first against the Irish national team on the twenty-eighth of this month, and the second against the El Salvador national team in the American city of Los Angeles on the sixth of next June, in an effort to reach the highest levels of readiness before the start of the tournament.
A record number awaits “Syria”
Annabi striker Sebastian Soria has a real chance to become the oldest player (non-goalkeeper) to participate in the history of the World Cup, after the 42-year-old was included in the preliminary list of our national team that will compete in the tournament.
Syria came among a group of 34 players, who chose Spaniard Julen Lopetegui, a list that will be reduced to 26 players before the start of the World Cup.
If Syria participates in the World Cup, it will break Roger Milla’s record as the oldest player in the tournament’s history, as Milla was also 42 years old when he played his last World Cup with Cameroon in 1994 in America.
Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary remains the oldest player ever to participate in a World Cup, as he was 45 years and 161 days old when he played against Saudi Arabia in 2018, and 43-year-old Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon is expected to be present in this year’s edition if he recovers from his injury in time.
Great public ambitions
The Qatari fans place high hopes on the current generation of Al-Anabi, in light of the continental and regional successes achieved by Qatari football over the past years, as the sports street hopes that Lopetegui will succeed in exploiting the current state of technical stability, building a team capable of competing and presenting an honorable image of Qatari football in the largest international football forum.
He begins his career in Switzerland
Al-Anabi will begin its World Cup campaign with a strong confrontation against the Swiss national team on June 13 in the American city of San Francisco, in a match that represents an early test of the team’s capabilities against one of the most prominent European teams.
The team then faces its Canadian counterpart on June 18 in Vancouver, before concluding its first-round matches by facing the Bosnia and Herzegovina team on June 24 in Seattle, in a match that may be decisive to determine the group’s qualification cards.