The Spanish Marques Lopez, the coach of our first national football team, announced the new squad for Al-Anabi in preparation for the matches between Afghanistan and India in the last two rounds of the first group of the double qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 Asian Cup, which are scheduled to be held next June 6 and 11 in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia, then Doha.
The list included 29 players: Saad Al-Shaib, Amir Hassan, Shihab Al-Laithi, and Ali Nader for goalkeeping, and Ibrahim Al-Hassan, Ahmed Al-Janhi, Ahmed Al-Rawi, Ahmed Fathi, Al-Hashemi Al-Hussein, Tahseen Muhammad, Tamim Mansour, Jassem Al-Sharshni, Hazem Ahmed, Khaled Ali, Abdullah Al-Muharraq, Abdullah Al-Yazidi, Abdullah Youssef, Fares Saeed, Muhammad Khaled, and Muhammad. Ayyash, Mustafa Tariq, Mahdi Al-Majaba, Nayef Al-Hadrami, Nabil Irfan, Hammam Al-Amin, Youssef Ayman, Youssef Ziyad, Youssef Abdel Razzaq, and Youssef Muhammad.
Lopez excluded a large number of the main stars of the first Annabi team to give them rest after the great effort they made throughout the season, whether through their participation in the 2023 Asian Championship and victory, or in the double qualifiers, which they succeeded in clinching before the last two rounds, as Annabi leads its group with 12 points and a full mark, and is guaranteed to qualify. Officially reached the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, and also officially qualified for the 2027 Asian Finals in Saudi Arabia.
Lopez hopes to continue victories despite his reliance on a youth squad and some experienced people such as Saad Al-Shaib, Ahmed Fathi, Hammam Al-Amin, Abdullah Al-Ahraq, Youssef Abdel Razzaq, Youssef Ayman and Hazem Ahmed.
He also hopes to obtain the remaining six points by defeating Afghanistan and India in order to improve his ranking in the new world rankings to be issued on June 20, which the Asian Confederation will rely on when conducting the draw for the third round of qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
